Chapter Eighteen: Told you I could count that high
Cannibals or territorial Durgonheimers or wild beasts?
No question.
Hiccup would rather fight a whole bunch of territorial cannibalistic Durgonheimers then to fight these wild beasts. Other than the Durgonheimers, the beats had brains. And they weren't impressed by a shiny blade. Rather the opposite.
They had stuck to Wills explanations and when the night had covered the coasts of Durgonheim, Toothless and Hiccup had made their way towards their first stop: 'Terra Mater'.
Due to the fact that they flying Hiccup had assumed that they would be faster than with a boat but the winds over this sea were rougher and where blowing against them so fast flying was not an option.
It took them hours, before Toothless spotted through the mist land.
'Terra Mater' was nothing special, at least not in Hiccups eyes. Sure, there were a lot of flowers and stuff and tame animals walked through the village that looked like it was built several hundred years ago (and left that way) and the people that lived here must've been affect by the weather too because they were wearing flowers in their hair, talked very slowly and most of the time they just sat in the shadow and talked about peace and the beauty of life. And when Hiccup asked how much the fish would cost, the old man raised in a defending was his hands and said in this slow and sluggish speech: "No my friend. They don't cost anything. We are all a big family and family sticks together. We are all brothers and sisters and I would feel bad asking you for money! Take what you need! We share everything!" Some by standing villagers nodded seriously.
Well that wouldn't work on Berk, Hiccup thought before he, a bit uncomfortable, took three fish.
"Take more my friend." encouraged the man him but Hiccup already felt bad for taking anything. "At least let me give you something." "No!" "How about a present. You can't deny a present, can you?" The man rubbed his chin. "I don't think so." Hiccup reached into his backpack and took a little carving of Toothless out. Whenever he couldn't sleep, he had worked on it. It had something relaxing.
He presented it to the man. He looked at him with big eyes. "Did you make it?" Hiccup nodded. "What is it?" "It's a Night Fury. Where I come from it's a sacred animal. It stands for power and intelligence but also for brotherly bonds and it's the hope for peace."
Hiccup didn't know what he was talking about but he realized that it was everything, Toothless conveyed to him and what he hoped they could achieve together.
With shaking hands the man took the carving. "Thank you so much, my brother. I will always think of your words when I look at this!"
The man was so happy, he started crying an insisted that Hiccup took more fish.
When he'd met with Toothless again and had presented his 'fruit of the hunt' Toothless had engulfed most of the fish.
The rest Hiccup had wrapped in big leaves and put back into his pack.
Then they had made their way towards the 'Horrible-Death-Lands'. Hiccup had studied the map Will had given him. The 'Horrible-Death-Lads' consisted out of four main islands but they were surrounded by hundreds of smaller islands, sometimes only a few feet apart. Will had said he would have to fly through them seeing it was the fastest way.
Hiccup would have to count the islands to make sure they landed on the right on. 'I-just-made-it-out-alive' looked just like the other islands and was also surrounded by these small rock-islands but it marked the end of theses 'Horrible-Death-Lands' and according to Will they were good to rest.
Hiccup wasn't s sure if he should trust an alcoholic middle aged giant with attitude that slept with a knife and only got up at noon.
Then again, he could count so he should be fine.
Of course he wasn't fine.
Whoever was to blame, Hiccup cursed him/her all the way over the ocean.
To be able to count the islands, they had to fly lower than usual. That wouldn't have been a problem. But that night, the weather changed dramatically. It had always been very windy but now there was a storm gathering at the horizon and the wind mixed with the mist and rain started pouring down.
Hiccup and Toothless were pushed around like rag-doll. Thunder rolled over the sky and lightning struck down.
Hiccup was afraid. He was paralyzed.
These islands weren't called 'Horrible-Death-Lands' just because what was on the islands. Also because of the treacherous nature that surrounded them. Will had warned him about the waters. But no one warned him about the sky.
Too late to turn back now.
With all the strength Toothless could managed he fought against the winds, ignored the whipping rain and the coldness.
Hiccup hold on tight. His leg was always in action, changing the position of the tail with every new gust of wind that startled them.
Even he was high on adrenalin he could feel that both of them couldn't go any longer.
Hiccup scanned the churning and raging sea. White foam covered the top of the waves and trees bowed in the wind.
But which island was this? Three or four? Or maybe just two? The islands were bigger then Hiccup had assumed. Again.
He tried to look ahead but there was nothing but wild water and black clouds. Nothing that could be mistaken as another island.
He was pretty sure they were at the end.
"Toothless! We have to land!" he screamed over the howling wind. Toothless gave an agreeing shriek and Hiccup moved the tail-fin into position five.
The landing wasn't as smooth as usual. They landed hard and the wind pushed from all sides against them.
Hiccup shielded his eyes with one hand and hold on to Toothless with the other.
"Okay, we need to find shelter."
Toothless, who could see by far better the Hiccup, understood and his eyes found a cave. Small but it would be enough to sit out the storm.
He nudged the boy in the back and steered him over to the cave.
As soon as wind and rain stopped penetrating him, Hiccup relaxed and with shaking limps he sat down. But Toothless had other intentions.
The boy was soaking wet. He couldn't stay that way.
As far as Toothless knew, Humans were sensible, fragile and soft. Their bodies weren't made for wet and cold.
Toothless shot some of his famous plasma-bolts in the cave floor and a nice fire started to burn there.
The warmth startled Hiccup a bit but he moved closer to the fire, holding his hands over the fire and enjoying the burning sensation of the heat on his cold and numb skin. "Thanks Toothless. What would I do without you?" The dragon snorted in a: "Sometimes-I-wonder-the-same-way."
When the numbness had left Hiccups limbs and he could feel again, he started to take of Toothless' saddle. Then he changed into some dry cloth and left the others near the fire to dry.
The ne gave Toothless some fish, ate some of it himself and leaned back against Toothless' side.
He didn't realize how tiered he was until his eyelids flattered and he fell asleep.
Waking up the next morning was no fun. He had slept in a strange position and now his neck was stiff and he could barely walk.
Toothless of course thought it was hilarious how Hiccup hobbled around and tried to stretch his neck.
"Useless lizard." Hiccup sighed and said: "Come one bud. Let's see where we landed." Reluctantly Toothless got up and walked behind his friend.
The storm was over. But the only signs of the sin flute last night were broken trees and deep lakes.
Otherwise the water had already dried in the hot morning sun. On their way they saw some small animals the reminded Hiccup of deer and squirrels and something that looked like boar.
Colorful birds, some not bigger then Hiccups index-finger, flew through the trees. A butterfly, big and bright yellow and red and orange, sat down on Toothless' nose and the dragon looked horrified, looking cross eyed at it, not sure what to do.
Now it was Hiccups time to laugh. Carefully he lifted the butterfly off Toothless' nose and looked at it closely, before it spread its wings and flew away.
It was an amazing place. Hiccup could understand why Will thought it was wonderful to rest. There was a lot you could hunt, even more sweet fruits Hiccup had never tasted before but made him want more and it was so peaceful that Hiccup never wanted to leave again.
They climbed a small hill, and shielding his eyes Hiccup looked north. Now that the sight was clear he could see the outlines of all the other islands.
He felt satisfaction to have made it through them alive. "Take that Will." He grinned and turned south.
And froze in shock. There, just a few hundred feet away, was the outline of another island! But 'Slim Finger' was over a few hundreds of sea miles away!
The gears in Hiccups head turned slowly. This was bad.
He wasn't off the 'Horrible-Death-Lands'! This wasn't 'I-just-made-it-out-alive'!
Hiccup looked around.
No sign of immediate danger. "Toothless, we have to go. Like right now." He said between clenched teeth.
Toothless looked at his rider incredulously. But he trusted Hiccup. Hiccup climbed his back and the Night Fury started to run.
But not long after they had started their run back, Hiccup heard noises in the brake. He made the mistake to look around.
That moment five beasts burst out of the brake.
They looked like…well back in Berk they had cats. Small fluffy fur balls that hunted down the mice and rats.
Well, this one's looked like bigger examples. Their fur was a sandy yellow they had golden eyes with pupils long, not round. Their teeth were yellow, big and sharp. Their paws were trimmed with claws, black and sharp like pure evil.
They moved fast with unbelievable grace and strength.
"Toothless, I don't want to pressure you but could you go faster?" Toothless snorted and ran faster. The beasts fell back a bit but not much.
Hiccup was relieved when he saw their cave. Toothless stopped harshly and Hiccup jumped off his back, gathering everything in seconds, cramming everything into his backpack. Then he grabbed Toothless' saddle and started to put it on him, when he heard the hissing and growling. The five beasts had catch up with them.
And now that Toothless and Hiccup were cornered, they weren't in a hurry.
Hiccup slowly moved his arm to strap the buckles on Toothless' saddle but they hissed at him and showed him their fangs. Hiccup swallowed.
How would he get out of this situation?
Hiccup drew his sword. More in a desperate way than to fight. Next to him, Toothless growled threatened.
When they made another step, Toothless shot a plasma-bolt. It hit the bush next to one of those cats and set in on fire.
The beasts jumped aside and growled at the flames and hissed at Toothless.
"They don't like fire." Hiccup mumbled.
Then, he had an idea. A stupid idea. But an idea none the less.
"Toothless, take the saddle. And when I say 'Go' you run for the beach, do you understand?" The dragon understood but that didn't mean that he liked the idea. He looked at Hiccup with narrowed eyes. "I Think I can buy us some time. But I need you in the water. If I'm right and they're like the ones back home, they won't like water." Toothless hesitated. "I'll be fine Toothless. Trust me. It's my turn to save us."
If the dragon could sigh he would right now.
But he carefully took the saddle and the tail construction into his mouth, while Hiccup slowly put on his backpack.
"I really hope this works out!" he mumbled under his breath and concentrated.
His hands burst into fire. The cats growled.
Hiccup willed the fire to move up his arms. Besides a slight tickling he felt nothing. He stretched out his arms and two columns of fire erupted from his hands, flying straight towards the cats. "GO TOOTHLESS!" Thank the gods the dragon listened.
The Night Fury bolted away, down the hill toward the blue sea.
Hiccup concentrated harder and moved the flame-columns. Everything in twenty yards was on fire.
Behind the wall of fire, the cats growled in outrage and tried to find a hole they could slip trough.
It was then that Hiccup realized that he had trapped himself too! He cursed rather colorful about his own stupidity, when he thought he heard a voice in the flames. "Walk through the flames." He looked around. But no one was there. "Hello?" "The flames won't hurt you. You can walk through them." Hiccup frowned. "Loki?" "No, this is Freya. Of course it's me! Now move."
Without stopping to watch the cats Hiccup carefully stepped into the ring of flames. Nothing happened. It was like walking through a gust of wind. The flame slicked at him but he didn't catch fire, which he was thankful for.
As soon as he was out of sight he turned around and bolted after Toothless down the hill towards the surf.
It took him a moment to realize that the cats had picked up the chase. Panic swelled up inside Hiccup and he ran faster.
Sand flew through the air and made it difficult to run fast.
Hiccup could see Toothless standing knee-deep in the surf. When he saw that Hiccup was chased he wanted to jump out of the water but Hiccup yelled: "No Toothless! Swim!" Then, while running Hiccup summand the fire again auf shot it at the cats. The growled and jumped aside.
Hiccup stumbled and started to run again. But the cats closed in on him. He could feel them right behind him. He saw a shadow flying overhead and wanted to stop but that would be stupid considering that at least four others were still behind him.
He wanted to break out to the left or right, when the giant cat over him suddenly shrieked and fell to the ground.
Hiccup, startled as he was, jumped over the fallen animal, seeing a dagger sticking out of its chest.
He looked up and ahead and saw a boat a few feet ahead of him in the water.
With last effort he jumped into the water and started to swim.
"Over here dwarf!"
He looked up and saw… "Will?" standing at the bow of the ship, knifes in hand and grinning like an idiot.
Hiccup swam for the boat, Toothless right at his side.
Will reached out and pulled him with one arm out of the water and dropped him on the deck. "By all the gods' boy, didn't I tell you that the fifth island was 'I-just-made-it-out-alive'? Can't you count?" he bellowed as he turned the wheel and the boat shot away from the bay, the island and the hungry cats.
Hiccup coughed and next to him Toothless shook the water of his body, drenching both of them.
Will scowled. "I'm not gonna ask where you got that from. Last time I saw one like him I was up in the north. Archipelago to be exact." Hiccup unsteadily got up. "Yeah. I know. We are from there." Will shot him a look before he turned back to the waters in front and said: "Then I'm not gonna ask what you are doing here so far away from home." "By the way, what are you doing here?" Hiccup asked and let his backpack fall to the ground.
Will snorted. "I followed you of course. Do you really think I believed you when you said you had a ship?" "Well considering the amount of alcohol in your blood and how ignorant you were, yes, I thought you believed me." "Well, wrong you are. I knew something was off with you. So I stayed to see what you were doing. And when I saw you with him" he pointed at Toothless "emerging from the woods, I knew you were up to something and to be honest I wasn't sure you were the brightest. Looks like I was right." Hiccup clenched his fists. Will wasn't making it easy for him to be grateful.
Will glanced again at him and his eyes widened in shock. "Wow, son, you're steaming!" Hiccup looked down and saw that he was right. Steam flowed of his body. Then he saw that his hands were on sire again and they turned the water on his body into steam.
Will saw it too, raised an eyebrow and said. "I'm not going to ask what that is. You make sure you don't burn down the ship!"
Hiccup willed the flames to die and took a deep breath. "Thank you." Will grinned. "No problem dwarf." "My name's Hiccup." "Whatever."
While Will raised the sails and moved over the deck like a mad-man, Hiccup felt how the energy drained from him and he sat down next to Toothless and watched the man.
"Where are we going?" he asked. "I thought you wanted to go to Derandolia. I make sure you make it in one piece. I don't know why, but something tells me it's the right thing to do."
Hiccup looked at Toothless and whispered: "And that something is probably a god we both know." Toothless chuckled.