Chapter Sixty-Eight: Two hearts
"My name is Brave."
Hope sat up groggily. Again that dream. She rubbed her face. She could feel the bags under her eyes.
Outside she heard loud voices and people running through the sand.
"Quickly, Jester saw something from the look-out. It's back." She heard the commander of the guards growled.
A shiver went down her back. It's back.
Slowly she got to her feet. Her knees were wobbly.
"He saved my live. I won't be without him. I'll find him again."
Outside it was still dark but the glow in the east already announced the beginning of a new day.
She blinked so long until her eyes adjusted to the dim light.
There was a lot of commotion going on. People readying weapons. She saw Thea and her brother preparing the infirmary. She should probably help them but instead she disappeared in the shadows and followed the warriors.
She had seen the shifting sand already. It came from the east, as if rising form the rising sun.
She hid in the shadows of one tent and listened.
"Alright men. Do you have everything?" Garret asked and the men answered with grin 'Yeses'. "Good, then let's do this."
That was when another voice cut through the night.
Quickly Hope burrowed herself deeper in the shadows.
It was that stranger, Hiccup.
"Garret, wait, let us help. We know dragons. I've myself trained a lot of them. I know dragons. We can help."
Hope shivered. Dragons. Scary animals. She preferred normal mammals and reptiles, not the winged sort of type.
Whenever she saw how the strangers slept rested on their scaly…pets…she got Goosebumps on her back.
Her hands tingled.
She peaked around the corner to see Garrets reaction.
He looked doubtfully.
"No offence but we don't want you to make things worse." "But we're sorry. We want to make it up to you." "The answer is still no and you better listen to what I say if you don't want any trouble."
With that he bellowed for the men to get going.
Hope stayed behind for a few seconds.
"He's a jerk." The other guy, Josh, said. She heard Hiccup sigh. "He just wants to do what he thinks is best. Sadly he doesn't see that he doesn't stand a chance." "So what do we do?" the other boy asked. He sounded more bored than concerned.
"What he says. We stay and watch."
And Hope slipped away.
She stood at the outskirts of the camp, still on top of the dune and looked at the men below her. "Right men, stand strong and keep it away." She heard Garret say, his voice carried to her by the soft wind.
With that they stepped through the magical barrier Thea had made.
Once passed through you could only get back in if someone form the other side pulled you through.
She lifted her gaze, looking ahead, her eyes searching for the softly moving dune.
She found it almost imminently.
Her insides churned.
It was very close.
She watched how the hummock got closer, how it circled the warriors, moved right under their feet, making them loose their balance.
It was playing with them.
Hope felt sick.
It repeated its play even though the men started to attack the sand with their spears. They didn't seem to reach it.
Suddenly it distanced itself a bit and stopped moving altogether.
Every pair of eyes was fixed on the swell in the sand.
Without any warning the deadly shadow broke from the sand, right when the first rays of sunlight broke over the horizon.
Momentarily blinded Hope saw the men raise their hands protectively to their eyes, she being the only one not affected by the sudden brightness.
And the thing struck, aiming at Garret who stood in front of his men. It hit him square in the chest, throwing him back against the barrier, making it visible for a second. Garret slummed down, unconscious and the beast got ready to strike again.
"NOOOOOO!" she screamed desperately and frightened.
And the two strange things happened.
She saw Hiccup dashing down form camp, running straight at Garret, one hand on fire, in the other his sword.
At the same time the dragon reeled around and its none-seeing eyes found her.
For a second nothing happened, Hope felt herself trapped in its gaze.
It opened its large mouth and screeched so loud Hope fell to her knees, hands clasped over her ears in agony.
Still she couldn't tear her eyes away from the dragons white ones.
Her hand tingled, her heart skipped a beat and when it started beating again, it felt as if she had two hearts beating in her chest at the same time with the same rhythm.
She gasped.
And suddenly the connection was broken. A fireball hit the dragon square in the face the same time Hiccup grabbed Garrets arm through the barrier and pulled him through.
The dragon shook its head, looked first at Hiccup and then back at her, screamed once again and dived back into the ground.
And gone it was.
Hope started after it, until the moving dune disappeared in the rising sun.
She didn't realize that she had unconsciously made her way down the dune to where the men, Hiccup and the now conscious Garret stood, all still shaken.
Heads turned her way.
"What was that?" Hiccup asked.
She looked at him from the corner of her eyes.
"What was what?" she asked silently.
"It reacted to you. It was going to strike but when it heard you…" Hiccup said silently.
She shook her head.
"He was probably just irritated?" she whispered.
"How do you know it's a he?" Hiccup asked with raised eyebrows.
Her head snapped around.
"It was probably just irritated."
She hoped he would drop it.
His green bored into hers.
Then he nodded abruptly.
"We should go." He said and for once no one disagreed with him.
Hope threw one last glance back.
What had happened?