Toothless waited with patience for Merida and Elinor to catch up. Hiccup sat beside him, watching in amusement as Rapunzel stumbled about the forest clearing grabbing or touching her tongue to everything in sight. As the two males of the group hunched side-by-side over the moss-laden boulder at the clearing's center, they sighed. Hiccup patted Toothless's back. Ahead, Rapunzel got hold of a mushroom.
"Don't eat that, Punzie," called Hiccup in a drawl, receiving a wicked glance from Rapunzel in return. After laughing, Hiccup turned to Toothless. The dragon looked unamused. It made Hiccup sigh and lean against his black-scaled back. When Toothless readjusted himself to sit on his own, Hiccup gaped.
"What, Toothless?" the boy demanded. The dragon drew silent in reply. Melancholy. Hiccup chuckled and looked at the sky. The clouds were covered in soft green film from the forest canopy.
"It's kind of nice not having the Red Terror yapping at our heels all the time, eh?" Hiccup asked. Toothless rolled his eyes. Then he rested a sideways glance at Hiccup's tiny frame, making the boy fold his arms over his front in indignation. "How does my size afford her bad attitude? What are you trying to say, Toothless?" When Toothless would not respond, Hiccup huffed and muttered, "I know you like her more than me. My one true friend in the world goes against me for a girl." To this, Toothless snorted. Hiccup glanced towards his friend in worry.
"You know, you could stick around if you like," the boy murmured. "I'd love having a buddy. You know I never had one back home."
In reply Toothless grew perturbed. The muscles of his cheeks wrenched back his grin until the gums above every tooth bore. His skin sloped down in a comically sad grimace. His eyes sunk at the sides and his head lurched forward. Beneath the forced frown and sagging lids, he glanced from bough to bough. His page turn purr turned to shivering metal, like frantic birds in rattling cages. His head lurched forward beneath his hunched shoulders. Hiccup turned towards the dragon in fright. He thought Toothless was preparing to wretch. But the beast's teeth remained clamped, his eyes sunken. The grimace turned to a plasticine mask through which frantic eyes drew back and forth. With shaking fingers Hiccup reached forward and drove his hand into the skin behind the dragon's rabbit like ears. For a moment the peridot irises sunk to nasty slits and the lids drew back. The body relaxed, the grimace disappeared, and the peridot gems slipped away as shiny black lids washed over them. A soft page turn purr eclipsed the clearing. With it came the padding of paws on dirt. When Hiccup turned to peek through the alders, the looming frame of the bear and Merida's red hair formed in the distance. When the pair stumbled fully into the clearing Merida slid from her companion's back with a huff. As she stroked the base of the bear's skull, Hiccup and Rapunzel watched her. Toothless glanced with tired eyes towards the bear.
"How was your trip?" asked Hiccup, his arm draped around Toothless's back. Merida shrugged and chuckled, reaching out her hand for a sip from the water pouch fastened around Hiccup's waist. After getting it, Merida sat against the forest bed and chugged, wiping her mouth after finishing and pursing her lips. "Give me five minutes and we can start off again."
"The beast doesn't seem to agree," murmured Rapunzel. Behind Merida, the bear lumbered towards the northern side of the forest, sniffing. A bush of bright purple berries caught its eyes, the dark round bodies twinkling like pearls beneath the thorns of the bush's golden leaves. Elinor trundled forward and twisted her head in an attempt to avoid the thorns. When they pricked her savagely she whined. Merida watched the struggle for a few moments before biting her lip and hoisting herself up. She returned Hiccup his water. Then she sauntered to Elinor's side.
"Elinor," she sighed, reaching for the bear's head. "We must go to Arcadia now. I must avenge the fiends who murdered my father. Elinor!"
Merida reached out and tugged the bear's ear down. The beast jolted and swiveled around, advancing on Merida with mouth open wide. As she stumbled back into the pine behind, the bear swelled and rose until its black barren form filled the sky. The shadow it cast against Merida's startled white visage made the breath she drew cold. In return the bear's eyes sunk down the sides of its face in sharp tear drops, their black rims encasing shining jet irises as the head they moved within jutted forward from the bear's long neck. Its tongue sloped down as its bottom lip jutted forward, the top lip curling up at the sides of the cheeks to brandish sharp yellow teeth. The beast's head lengthened as it drew from standing to walking on all paws. When Merida closed her eyes she could feel the bear's hot breath as it stumbled towards her. A roar like the grating of metal on wood tore at Merida's eardrums. Saliva flung from the bear's mouth and landed against her cheeks.
Then, the beast shivered and sniffed. When Merida peaked one eye open she was greeted with a wide, gentle black glance that looked almost sad. The bear held the familiar warmth that had bound itself and Merida together for the past three days.
As Merida stared into its face, her memory moved to the clearing in DunBroch. The Arcadian forest moss surrounding her turned to rich, sea like grass shimmering in waves under a night breeze. Grass so soft and wet that it bathed her boots and dampened her feet as she stepped through it. Replacing the canopies of alder were familiar pines under a high full moon that shone over the clearing, causing the fog within to shimmer silver. Instead of vast swaths of deciduous trees, Merida glanced now over a circle of high stones from the bottom of the clearing they were dug into. Within the clearing above her swept the silhouette of her father, shrouded in mist. There was the twinkle of his broach, and the sweep of his tartan cloth. In this image, the familiar stub of wood was latched in place of his right leg. He fought Mor'Du a second time, with another Merida at his side, calling out in a strange voice that bore no reply but the roar of a beast. Arrow in hand, the memory Merida swept her vision towards the far end of the stones, where the real Merida stood hunched and watching. The memory Merida's eyes widened. When the real Merida glanced into the pine forest behind her, a beastly, ghost like shadow flew through her body. It bounded up the hill ahead of her in a blur. That shadow, again. The one that trundled against the rock that would collapse against Mor'Du. She had witnessed this false memory twice before, once amongst the will o' the wisps in the DunBroch bogs, and once in Corona when long shadows crossed along the alleyway past the window with broken pots. Those eerie places where darkness turned human. The real Merida stared upon the memory with confusion.
In her life, when the great stone of DunBroch's ancestors fell upon Mor'Du's towering frame, none of him bar a single shining paw escaped, skeletal now as it turned from life to dust. But in this vision it was not Mor'Du that transfixed Merida, but the shadow throwing itself against the rock that would fell him. In Merida's life Fergus killed Mor'Du with his sword when she was but five years old. Now a black haze crushed the bear under grey bluestone instead. When the real Merida squinted her eyes to see what the black haze was, a glimmer of fur and paws twinkled in its shadow. It fixed what must have been its eyes on her memory self clad in bow and arrow. It walked out towards the false her. The her her own age. Sixteen. As the memory Merida reached out to touch the shadows back, the real Merida howled for her to stop.
The hallucination stopped with a loud whine. With a gasp Merida's conscious was wrenched back to the border of Arcadia where she lay nestled under canopies of alder with Elinor the Fearful. The bear looked upon her with emotion. Its nose nuzzled against Merida's trembling hands. It bumped its immense skull into her shoulder, as if coaxing in itself the memory of something vital. For a moment it continued its search. Then its face returned to gilded placidity and its eyes flickered vacant jet black. With trepidation Merida reached out and placed her palm against the base of Elinor's scalp, right above the bridge of her nose. The bear looked upon Merida with wariness. When Merida petted its ears, it gave a low rumble. Then the pair hoisted themselves up and set off towards the party once more.
As Hiccup and company looked on her Merida murmured that she and Elinor were ready to depart. Hiccup nodded. Rapunzel padded towards Toothless on bare feet. With slow steps she climbed atop the dragon's back and waited for Hiccup to sit at her front. Merida turned to mount the bear.
For a minute it would not take her. Again, confusion clouded its vision. But when Merida stroked behind its ears, the bear lowered its head and nudged towards her.
"Arcadia is directly east, you said?" Hiccup asked Rapunzel. The girl stuttered, "yes- northeast" in return. Hiccup nodded and climbed atop Toothless' back, blushing as Rapunzel wrapped her arms around his waist. As Merida watched the three, she noticed Toothless shiver.
"Toothless, what is wrong?" she murmured. Hiccup bent close as the dragon shook his head back and forth. Its lips sloped back and down from its bottom teeth, and the effect of rattling cages returned to its voice. Around them the air became cool. The wind strengthened. Merida furrowed her brows. Then, in realization she gasped and slipped an arrow through her bow, aiming amongst the trees to where she thought the winter spirit would appear. She could not see him this time. But behind her, Toothless let out a snarl unlike any she had ever heard. Hiccup and Rapunzel screeched. There was a double thud. A massive black blur rushed past Merida and bounded through the air, snapping its jaws at some invisible sprite that whipped from bough to bough. Yelps resounded with each snap of the dragon's jaw. Merida attempted to center on the dragon's prey, the direction of her bow changing with empty air. When a gust of blistering wind rushed past her and nearly knocked her off her feet, Merida swung her free leg around and made contact with something hard and cold. The air screeched.
"Make yourself known, Frost!" roared Merida. Again she strung her bow. This time Toothless stopped his pursuit, suspending himself in midair like floating silk. The temperature dropped to freezing. The air held a mighty scowl. Two chalk white feet came into form. Snowy hair and stark black brows shivered above crystalline blue irises. When the spirit formed completely he held his hands up in surrender. But before Toothless could snap him up, Jack dove behind Merida's back and clamped his hands over his head. As the dragon slipped around her heels, Merida turned on the winter spirit and drove him into the trunk of the alder behind. She pointed her arrow at his throat and the spirit yelped. He rose to his tiptoes until he floated a few centimeters from the ground, up and away from the arrowhead lodged against the hollow between his collar and Adam's apple.
"What was that for?" croaked the spirit. Merida only lodged her arrowhead deeper, until it should have drawn blood. Instead, dark purple fizz bubbled around the tip of her blade. Beneath the lilac foam oozed deep violet syrup. Merida reeled back in disgust. As she wiped her blade against an alder at her back, the winter spirit slid to the his white scalp floated Toothless. His pupils were thin slits. As Jack watched him, he shivered and curled his blue cloak tight around his throat.
"Are you living or dead?" gasped Merida, watching with horror as the purple gel from the spirit's vein formed a quick black scab. The spirit dabbed at the spot in satisfaction and shrugged. "Barely," he added with a sigh, following Toothless with his eyes. "So I'd like to preserve the little I have left." Then his brows furrowed. "Wait, what was your question?"
"I thought you were a spirit!" Merida snapped. "Spirits do not have blood!"
"Have you ever met another spirit besides me?" grinned Jack in return. Behind Merida, Rapunzel stepped forward with an extended index finger, her head cocked to the side in remembrance. Hiccup stood speechless with suspicion behind her.
"I know you," she murmured. "I've heard that voice before... felt that breath... somewhere..."
For a moment the rest of the party stared at her with wide-eyed glances. Then, Jack threw his head back and guffawed, falling and rolling around the mossy ground until he bumped into Merida's knees. When she backed away and he toppled further, his howling laughter encased the entire valley. The dragon's shadow fell above his up-stretched chin. He yelped and dove for Merida's legs. Toothless's jet black frame thrashed through the moss where his snowy white feet had stepped. Its brows disappeared beneath the dirt. Jack Frost clapped his hands to his head and whined.
"I know I was kind of an ass before, leaving you behind in DunBroch without knowing the way to Arcadia, but things have changed!" he pleaded, throwing his arms to either side of him with a grin. "I'm a new spirit! And I'm ready take you to the witch!"
"Witch?" snapped Rapunzel. Hiccup furrowed his brow. Toothless loomed over the spirit again. Translucent, shark like, milky film slicked over its eyes. When the dragon's page turn purr turned to rattling cages and its shadow crept over Jack's face, the spirit's head snapped up. His crystalline blues glinted in the dark.
"Interesting, uh, beast you've got there," he whispered through chattering teeth. "Would you, eh hem, mind informing me where you might have picked him up?"
"He's a night fury!" barked Hiccup in return, his arms crossed in front of him. "I picked him up back home."
"Where's home?" asked the spirit, his eyes still centered on the dragon.
"That is not your affair!" Merida returned before Hiccup had time to speak. Jack frost chuckled.
"A "Night Fury," huh? Interesting name for an oversized newt that vomits stardust every once in a while."
Livid, the dragon dove between Merida's legs and swept her over his back as he searched for a way to put Jack's head between his jaws. As the dragon thrashed the spirit sailed through the air and spun on his heel, putting his hands up in surrender as he tried not to cackle.
"I'm sorry!" he yelped as he dangled. "That was rude. I apologize. I have an attitude problem with things that try to eat me."
"Who are you, anyway?" demanded Hiccup. In reply Jack cocked his body to the left and raised his brows. Then he beamed and swung back.
"I!" he began, sweeping his arms around him before lowering into a deep, midair bow, "Am Jack Frost!"
"Jack Frost?" muttered Rapunzel in distaste. Jack nodded and winked.
"You know, eternal prankster, ice extravagant, king of cool, ruler of winter..."
"Thief, liar, betrayer," shot Merida in return. Jack wrinkled his nose and dismissed the shiver creeping up his cold spine.
"I didn't ask what you thought, Princess Merida of DunBroch," he hissed. His eyes narrowed as he sneered. "Or did you forget to tell everyone who you were?"
The spirit barely dodged Merida's next slung arrow, screeching as Toothless sailed for his fluffy white head again. As Merida ran beneath him, she screeched that she had told only the truth from the time he had left her side. When Hiccup snorted behind her, she gritted her teeth but otherwise did not move. Above, Jack scowled again. He pointed to the dragon.
"Can someone get that oversized bat off my back?" snapped the spirit. "I can't get a word in edgeways!"
"Maybe if you stopped insulting him, he would like you better," returned Hiccup. Jack moaned and threw himself over the mossy boulder the dragon and his boy had formerly sat upon.
"Why can't I ever make a good first impression?" he sighed to himself, throwing his arms around him. Merida rolled her eyes and signaled for everyone to keep moving. Slowly the party prepared to leave, Hiccup and Rapunzel mounting Toothless while Merida turned for Elinor. When Jack noticed their receding forms, he called out to them and floated to their sides, hovering near their shoulders as they padded forward on bear or beast.
"Merida and I go way back," he gushed as the rest of the team plowed ahead. All refused to look at him except for Rapunzel, who fixed him with a narrow eyed glare.
"I saved her life when Arcadian goons killed her family!" the spirit continued. "I told her about the witch that could help her defeat them!"
"I do not need a witch anymore, Jack," responded Merida with a hint of a grin. She patted Elinor's side. "I have a bear and a dragon to defeat them for me. I do not need your help anymore."
"Wait, WHAT?" croaked Jack, tearing his hands down the sides of his face in confusion. "You're using this dragon to defeat the whole kingdom of Arcadia? Are you nuts?"
"Would you like a demonstration, Jack?" Merida warned, watching with satisfaction as Toothless' lips curled back over his teeth. His throat took on a startling electric blue glow, but before he could spit a fireball through Jack's stomach, Hiccup tugged on his ears and threw his arms around the dragon's mouth. Toothless puffed out an agitated breath. Jack ran his fingers through his ghostly hair.
"This is a mess," he muttered. Then, with a bright beam, he swerved to Merida's side and set his palms beneath his chin.
"So what's the new plan?" he asked. Behind him Hiccup scowled and shouted that they did not want his company.
"Can you not catch the drift?" the brunette snapped. Jack looked upon him with a wicked glance before returning to Merida.
"I know everything about this stupid territory. I've been traversing it for over a hundred years now."
"What?" snapped Hiccup.
"Give or take," returned Jack. "See, I was listening to Blondie's directions over hear," he explained, cocking his head towards Rapunzel, "and I don't think she has a clue where she's taking you." Then he bent close to Merida's ear and whispered, "where did you find her, anyway?"
"The witch's tower," responded Merida. "She told us not to go in."
"Of course she told you not to go in!" Jack nearly screeched. "She was trapped there!"
"You never said the witch would have a lady locked in that tower," warned Merida. Again, Jack tore his hands at his hair.
"I never said the witch was a paragon of virtue, Merida!" he cried. "She's a witch, for crying out loud! And now that you stole her property, she'll never tell you how to get your family back!"
"I am not trying to get my family back," Merida barked. "I am avenging them!"
"You are such an idiot!" growled Jack. "Don't you know that she can bring those dopes back to life?"
Immediately Merida stopped in her tracks. Her breath had been stolen from her. Nearby, Toothless, Hiccup, and Rapunzel stopped and looked over their shoulders. Merida shook her head in disbelief.
"What?" she breathed. "You never told me she could bring them back."
"Well," muttered Jack in return, scratching at his chin, "it isn't exactly common knowledge. You've got to be prepared to sacrifice something important to bring back a life, let alone- how many, again?"
"Three," breathed Merida, "as many as I can from that terrible night. MacGuffin, as well."
"You can't save all of them, Merida," warned Jack. He averted his gaze. "Once you know the price, you may rethink it."
"I have to know the price, first," she cried. "Why did you not tell me this before?"
"Because you would not have listened!" snapped Jack. "You were so bent on killing that you never thought of it!"
"Well now I am thinking about it," Merida seethed, tugging against Elinor's neck so that she would veer to the left. Instead the bear roared and threw her from its back, baring its teeth as she cowered against the ground. Before the beast could advance on her Toothless swept to Merida's side, hissing and gnashing its teeth for Elinor to step away. For one minute the forest's immensity hung deafening. The clearing echoed the grate of the animals' hearts within their ribs. Their huge eyes bored into one another. But as the bear's shallow breath deepened, and as Toothless' dark pupils relinquished and the shark whites of his inner lids rolled back to reveal brilliant peridot greens, normalcy returned. Elinor trundled for another berry brush and nudged through its thorns with placid strokes. Toothless glanced towards Merida with wide eyes. He sniffed at a scratch against her elbow and tried licking it. Merida gritted her teeth and swept his head aside. Then she drew her bow and arrows close to her, swiveled on her heel, and walked back in the direction she had come. Toothless' voice rattled cages as he bounded after her. His scaly brows furrowed as he neared her side. Merida ignored him. She swept aside alder branches and plodded over high moss without seeing any of it.
As Merida disappeared, Toothless glanced to Hiccup. In response the boy scowled and ran after her, leaving Rapunzel alone in the clearing with the dragon, Elinor, and Jack.
"Merida!" he howled, catching up and grabbing her arm. When he touched her she threw him to the ground and strung an arrow in her bow, jabbing it in the hollow of Hiccup's neck like she had done Jack.
"This time," she intoned, "your blood will not scab." She broke away and continued walking. As he sat up against the moss, Hiccup wiped dirt from his hands and shut his mouth tight. Then he started after her again. "Merida!" he shouted. He tripped over a low-lying log and howled in displeasure. With gritted teeth he reached in his pocket and closed around a small, silver disk. Then with a cry he swept it from his trousers, swung it over his shoulder, and pitched the metal forward until it hit Merida in the back of the head. When it made contact with her fiery red scalp, it pinged off and sailed into the moss surrounding. For a moment Merida stood still. Then she prodded the back of her head and whizzed around. Hiccup stood with clenched fists.
"What did you throw at me, slime?" the princess roared. Hiccup pointed to the ground near her feet.
"Just thought you might want that," he muttered. "You know, to remind you were you came from when the witch makes you her slave." Then he turned and plodded back to Rapunzel and Toothless. Merida stared after him for a good while. Then she kneeled and padded around the mossy forest floor for whatever had been thrown. When her hands closed around it, her expression changed and her shoulders sagged. With gentle hands, she held it to the light.
Her brooch. The one with the triskelions and the chasing bears. The sigil of her people. The shining silver she had jumped over flames and thugs to recapture. She had forgotten it. With trembling fingers she ran her hands over its smooth curves, touching with trepidation the new dint in its side, the blackened corner from the fire. A scratch grazed its underside, from the tip of a foreign sword, or perhaps one of her arrows. Bleeding ink sagged through the indentations of the triskelions. As she drove its silver pin through her belt, Merida shut her eyes and bent towards her knees, letting the leather about her waist slip from her grip as she settled her hands over her eyes. Her belt fell against the forest floor. For a while she slouched with bitten lip. Her mind was clouding. Now it centered on the forest's complete silence. The chill air draping over her shoulders was so unlike the kind Jack swept with him on his visits. This cold crept. Why did it assail Merida whenever she lay alone? As Merida stared around her, the alder boughs grew and sharpened. The canopy darkened from kelly to sea green. She shivered. Her thoughts traveled to her mother. From her warm pink face to her knowing smile. Then to the bear. Its dark, teardrop eyes and thrust lower lip as it howled grating metal in Merida's ears. The thunder of its voice. Toothless's page turn purr, and the sound of rattling golden cages.
"Golden?" she murmured in surprised. Her fingertips cooled. Her breath puffed in front of her like fog. Golden with a hundred fluttering wings. Thousands of gilded boxes extending through a dark chamber. A shadow looming across spiraling staircases. Golden silver teardrops and flickering flames. Pupils of utter darkness. Blinking through candlelight. Memories that were not her own, like the hazy pictures of the beast that pushed the stone across Mor'Du's broad back. She and her father fighting together. Fergus with his stub for a leg.
Why were there two battles with Mor'Du in that chain of memories, that dark string as deep as the mist surrounding the bogs and as fine as the blue will o' the wisps? One memory of Merida as a babe, and another from when she turned... sixteen. Old as she was later memory, with the second beast, and herself as she was now, a roar, the same as Mor'Du, but different, softer, stronger and less manic. The black shadow creeping behind the clearing stones refocused. Another bear? Now, in the clearing with her brooch clutched tight to her chest, Merida felt its breath upon her back, warm and gentle. Her mother's smile warmed her palms, the sound of her whispering voice crept through Merida's ears. Lost and blind, Merida reached towards it, clutching at empty air. When she stretched out her palm she was startled by hot fur.
In fright Merida jumped back and drew her arrow, gasping when Elinor the Fearful's huge silhouette cowered in confusion at the tip of her blade. As the black bear glanced down, Merida blinked back tears. She looked around her. She was back in Arcadia.
With a whimper Merida threw her weaponry to the ground and swept her hands around Elinor's neck. She pressed her body into the black fur and sobbed. Elinor nuzzled her snout into the crook of Merida's shoulder. After hugging the bear for several shattered breaths, Merida patted the beast's back and pulled away with a smile. In turn, Elinor glanced at her with strong black eyes.
"I am sorry I drew my weapon upon you, Elinor," whispered Merida. "How could I treat you with such disrespect?" Then with a sigh, she sat upon the moss. When she looked around her, she noticed how the coming winter bit the autumn air. The way the sun seemed more gold, yet less oppressive. Cold. Distant. The way the sky changed over the dying leaves. The way the wind moved through their boughs in heavy anticipation. It was so different here than in DunBroch. As Merida sighed, the bear drew out a deep huff. Its black nostrils shone with moisture as Merida patted its side once more.
"I suppose you are only like me," she murmured. "Impulsive. Biting sometimes, cool at others. You have a more predictable disposition than I do, and I am supposed to be a princess."
With what sounded like a groan, Elinor slumped at Merida's side and glanced through the trees with her. Behind her Merida saw flickering shadows that made her brows furrow. She blinked. The shadows were the far off silhouettes of Toothless and Hiccup. Rapunzel trailed behind. Merida looked upon them in shock.
"Why are they so kind?" she whispered. Elinor puffed out a large breath again, seeming to shrug her shoulders. Merida stared upon her.
"You know, Elinor," she whispered, "I have been having such strange thoughts, lately. I feel so helpless. Unsafe. But I feel as though you are unsafe whenever you are with me. Should it not be the other way around?"
Elinor the Fearful glanced upon her with dull eyes. The warmth that had graced its knowing glance before was now gone. Merida felt, in that instant, a human spirit snuff out. In its place was the placid gaze. The bear had returned. With a sigh Merida swept her belt in her arms and pinned it around her waist, sweeping her fingers with care across her family crest. When the bear's eyes fell upon it, its mouth opened. Out from within came a low, rumbling growl. In agitation, the bear shook its head back and forth. Saliva jumped to either side of its mouth with each sweep. As it stepped back, Merida stepped forward, confused. She raised her hands above her, shushed the creature as she tried reaching out for it. But the bear snapped at her and drove her back, stomping its feet before lurching back itself. Its snout pointed at the base of her stomach. When Merida prodded at it, she met with the brooch again and furrowed her brows.
Merida undid her belt and held it out for the bear to take. She smiled and ran her fingers across her family crest. The bear howled and shook its head faster, backing away and hunkering on its four paws. Once more Merida stepped forward. The bear jutted its head and roared, grating Merida's eardrums and making her shut her eyes tight. In darkness Merida redid the belt around her waist and flipped the brooch inside out, concealing the triskelions against the material of her dress. Then, she backed away with her hands ahead of her, watching the bear with each step. It continued pacing, moaning and jutting its head whenever it turned. As the sound of slinking scales on moss reverberated around it, the bear cocked its ears and turned again. This time, it lolloped through the thick woods ahead without looking back. As it left, Merida tugged her hand to her chest. Then she forced her arms to her sides and turned.
Four shapes stood ahead of her. Jack, Rapunzel, Hiccup, and Toothless. Toothless bowed against the forest floor, his peridot green eyes huge and anxious. Hiccup's arms clamped his yak fur vest. Rapunzel stood like a stalk at his back. And Jack Frost glided behind them with a wicked, bitter glare. Merida glanced from one to the other in concealed amusement.
"Are we all getting along?" she tried. In return Hiccup unhooked his arms and strode towards her, prodding her in the chest with uncharacteristic strength.
"Listen up!" he snapped. "I didn't want to come back and get you. But someone around here liked you enough to want to drag you back." As he said this, he glanced towards his scaly betrayer with a glare. As their eyes met, Toothless rolled onto his back and let his tongue fall across the side of its face. Hiccup mumbled something about "my only friend." Then Rapunzel stepped ahead of him with clasped hands.
"We want you to come with us!" she pleaded. "If you wish to avenge your family, there is no better way than to speak with the prince of Arcadia!"
"With Toothless and a bit of strategy we could probably take the whole castle," Hiccup shrugged. "His army is off taking over the world, right?"
"If we returned with his castle guard, we would be unstoppable!" considered Rapunzel.
"Let's not forget to return to that witch after it's all said and done!" piped in Jack, causing everyone to glance at him with raised brows.
"What?" he shrugged. "My plans are malleable as well."
With a nod, Hiccup returned to Merida's side and glared at her.
"We're all in this together. We came back because some of us cared," again, he eyed Toothless, who was now rolling around after a low flying butterfly. "And like it or not, we need each other. But we have to trust." With this, he held out his hand and cocked his chin high.
"I am Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III," Hiccup cried with pride. "Son of Chieftain Stoick the Vast. Hope and Heir to the Hairy Hooligans. Sole Dragon Rider of Berk." Then, he bowed and indicated Toothless. "Toothless. Dragon, Night Fury, general scourge of the skies. The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. Strike class. And one of my dearest friends." In return, Toothless tilted his head and continued after the butterfly. Hiccup handed the floor to Jack in disdain, and the spirit grinned. "Oh, you all know me already," he chuckled, winking at Rapunzel to continue. In return she ignored him and curtsied.
"Rapunzel of Corona," she murmured. Then she cocked her head towards Merida, who narrowed her eyes.
"Princess Merida of DunBroch. Daughter and heir of High King Fergus and High Queen Elinor. DunBroch champion in archery. Eagle Shooter. Bear rider," then she glanced towards the shadow of Elinor, deep in the forest ahead. Whether it receded or grew nearer, she could not tell.
"Elinor the Fearful of the Ben Vair Mountains," she called to it. "Game bear of the Corona Thug House." A grunt resounded far ahead. Merida grinned. Then, she turned to the rest of the party and held out her palm. "Let us make a promise to one another. That we shall assist all equally until each of our desires is fulfilled."
Though Hiccup shifted from one foot to the other and Rapunzel bit her lip, Jack swept forward and slammed his hand against Merida's. Then came Toothless' left wing. With limp arms Hiccup groaned and set his own palm atop the growing pile. Then, Rapunzel slipped forward and placed hers atop his. Finally Merida felt hot breath across her back and smiled. Elinor the Fearful plodded beside her and nuzzled its nose at her side.
"I swear," announced Jack, jolting the party out of reverie. All of them continued together, "That I shall assist these new friends equally, until all of our desires are fulfilled."
"And that kindness and understanding shall be the language we speak," tried Rapunzel in a small voice. Though everyone held back a snicker, they chanted the remaining words in as loud a voice as they could muster. With that, the palms descended, and the party looked upon itself.
"Well," Merida whispered with a grin. "Shall we?"
With laughter Jack Frost clapped his hands and sailed through the air, spiraling and sending a flutter of snowflakes behind him as he shrunk to a blink on the horizon. The valley was engulfed in the darkness of Toothless' wings. As Hiccup scrambled for the dragon's shoulders with Rapunzel tugging at his back, Toothless shivered and tested the wind currents above. When both passengers had climbed atop him, he hunkered down and shot up, bouncing from boulder to tree bough to canopy, and then into clear blue sky. As Merida watched them turn to dots on the horizon, she gripped the Elinor's mane and looked into her eyes.
"One more journey is all I ask," she whispered. Though the bear stared at her dully, it cocked its head. Merida grinned. Then, she hooked her hand around the skin of Elinor's neck and heaved herself over the bear's shoulder, patting at her side and pointing ahead. The bear grunted. Then, it bounded forward, trailing deep into the forests of Arcadia.