Chapter Twenty-Two: When all hell breaks lose

The night was still young and Hiccup sat on deck, leaning against Toothless' heaving side and watched the stars.

Will and he had eaten a few hours ago and the man had gone under deck to sleep. They had thrown the anchor out so no one hand to steer the boat.

Hiccup watched the stark blink and watched the moon and let his thoughts wander off. They were now only a few hours away from the coast of 'Slim Finger'. The night was clear and still and Hiccup thought about the coming days.

While his mind had been occupied until now with traveling and surviving, he now had time to think properly.

And there was a big problem. Hiccup was suppose to unite the seven Nations. So far so good. But no one had bothered to explain to him how.

He'd no idea what to expect there. And With whom should he talk?

Someone in a high position. Like a chief maybe. But did they have chiefs here? And if, would he listen to him?

Hiccup knew from own experience that Vikings rarely listened. Especially when they were the chieftain.

And how do you unite? In the archipelago you signed treaties. But Hiccup was in no position to sign a treaty.

It's like my fight with the Red Death. Until I faced her, I had no idea what to do. Maybe this is similar.

Hiccup scratched Toothless behind the ears and the dragon purred like a cat. Hiccup shuddered. He wouldn't be able to look at cats the same way anymore.

His gaze fell on the water outline of the horizon. Tomorrow by this time they would have passed 'Slim Finger' and would be near the coast of Derandolia.

His eyelids got heavy and he wanted to let sleep claim him, when something against the outline of the horizon caught his eye. He squint his eyes and looked closer. It was a boat. A boat approaching fast. A boat without any lights on it. Hiccup had to think what Will had said about these waters.

Sometime pirates come this way.

He bolted down the stairs toward the little cabin in which Will slept. He crashed through the doors. "Will! Get up!" Startled by the sudden loud sound, Will sat up, groaning and cursing. "What is it punk? Another spider?" Hiccup rolled his eyes. "No. Ship." "What?" "There's a ship approaching. Fast. With no lights on it."

Will's brain needed five seconds to process the information before he jumped out of his bed, knife in hand. "Damn it. Show my dwarf."

The bolted the stairs up.

"Their!" Hiccup pointed at the Ship that was now very close.

Even for a sailor Will had a colorful collection of cussing words. Most of them Hiccup had never heard before. Some where familiar.

Will rushed to the ships heck. "Help me pull the anchor up. We need to get going right now!" he called while raising the sails.

Hiccup jumped forward and started pulling up the heavy anchor.

Every few seconds he glanced over his shoulder at the boat.

Finally the anchor was up and they finally moved. There wasn't much wind but Will was an excellent sailor. Even the tiniest breeze he could catch in the sails and they shot forward.

"Hiccup! Do you have a weapon?" Hiccup nodded and Will said: "Can you use it?" "Yes." "Then get it. We won't have a chance in outrunning them. We'll have to fight."

Hiccups heart beat wildly in his thin chest.

"Okay." We ran downstairs and unshielded his sword and came back running up the stairs. "Toothless!" the dragon was at his side. "Blast them to oblivion when they attack!" Toothless growled happily.

Will chuckled. "You two have a unique connection Hiccup." Hiccup looked up. "Yeah I know…wait a minute! You said my name, again!" "No I didn't dwarf. No shut up, they nearly have us. Hide. When they take the ship, attack!" Hiccup nodded. The he asked: "And you?" Will smiled. "These are not my first pirates. I'll be fine."

Hiccup nodded and hid in the bow.

Toothless blend in with that shadows and Will stood his ground at the wheel, teeth clenched and his knife in hands.

Hiccup sat there. There was an eerie silence and then something connected with a loud bang with their boat and Hiccup nearly fell out of his hiding spot.

He could hear harsh voices and bellowing. Then there were footsteps. Many footsteps. Some of the m coming his way.

His heart beat harder.

And then the silence was interrupted by Will, screaming bloody murderer and charging at the first pirate that stood in his way. Toothless sent out two mighty plasma-bolts and Hiccup found his courage and with a battle yell that would have made his father proud, he jumped out of his hiding spot and brought down his sword at the head of a pirate that stood only a few feet away from him.

The blade and the skin connected and there was a disgusting sound of skin being ripped apart flesh being torn. The man crumbed to the ground and Hiccup turned to face the next one. In the pale moonlight the blood on his blade looked black.

The other men recovered from their shock and charged at Hiccup.

He hoped to feel the same power in him like when the Durgonheimers had attacked him, but…nothing happened. Hiccup yelped and raised his sword not too late and blocked an ax-strike. Loki had been right. He couldn't rely on his mothers' talent to safe him always. He still had to learn.

And how Gobber would put it: I believe in learning by doing the job.

Hiccup sent a last prayer to the gods then charged at the men.

The men were probably baffled by his stupidity that he landed a few luck hits before they recovered enough and began to attack him.

Hiccup dodged and parried and tried basically not to get hit. He had no idea how Toothless or Will were doing but judging from the plasma-blots that were shot and light up the night, was Toothless keeping them occupied and wherever Hiccup saw bodies of pirates lying on the ground he knew Will had been the reason.

Suddenly Hiccup lost his footing and fell hard to the ground. He lost his sword and imminently four pirates were on top of him. He screamed and kicked and punched around him but they were too strong for his weak arms.

He only managed to kick one of them in the groin and he fell overboard with his face twisted in a mask of pure pain and horror. Then they had grabbed his limps and pressed them to the ground. "Toothless!" he screamed. He heard the dragon roar and then he heard Will shouting: "HICCUP!" The pirates lifted him up and started to carry him over the boat towards the plank. "Toothless, Will, HELP!" He could hear Will cursing and saw how he made his way towards him but suddenly there was another pirate that head butted the giant in the side. Will lost his footing and went overboard. "WILL!" Hiccup shouted while the men dragged him over to the other boat. But the water was motionless. No. No he can't be dead! Hiccup looked around for Toothless but suddenly the deck of the boat was deserted. There were just some corps lying and blood pouring out of their wounds.

Then Hiccup was shoved under deck of the other boat and the door closed with a heart crunching finality over him.