Chapter Seventy: Hopeful descendants
Surprisingly it was her that broke the silence fist.
She had been determined to ignore her unwanted companion until he would get annoyed and go back but that didn't happen.
Hiccup just kept walking besides her, never saying a word, being nothing more than one of the shadows around them.
But something about his calmness, his easy walk and confidence made her talk.
"This feels strange."
He looked at her confused.
"What?" he asked.
She let her gaze wander over the endless sand-dunes. "My parents died a few months ago."
"I'm sorry." He said slowly.
"They walked into the desert with no supplies. No one knows why they did it. No one will talk to me about it. And whenever I bring it up they try to switch the topic. I don't understand. It's like they don't want to talk about it. As if it's something distastefully and no one should bother with it." She mumbled silently. "It feels strange doing exactly the same thing."
He nodded but then he said: "But we plan on going back, don't we?" She didn't answer to that.
"The day after they were gone for four days, my dreams started acting up. I've always had strange dreams but they never meant anything. It was then that I first dreamt about Namhera." She whispered the name, afraid it might conjure the being bound to it. But the sand stayed calm.
"Who's Namhera?"
Hope took a deep breath.
"He's the dragon that attacks my people. That follows my tribe since…since…" "Yes? Since when?"
"Since Brave."
They walked a few seconds in silence.
"Who was Brave?"
She explained the story to him.
He whistled slowly.
"If that's true, then that dragon is really, really old. But what does that have to do with you?"
Against her will she felt herself open up to the stranger.
Hiccup was a good listener and paid attention to every word she said. He thought about them and answered every unspoken question of hers.
In return he told her of his past and what his friends and he were doing.
And strange enough, she believed him.
She told him about her dream with Namhera and Brave meeting for the first time and her strange connection to the beats when it had showed up yesterday.
She hesitated when she came to tonight.
"Yes?" Hiccup asked when she didn't continue.
"But this night something changed for the first time. I…saw more. I understand now what bonded then. Or better, how they bonded."
She stopped and rubbed her arms when a cold wind cut over the dunes.
Hiccup shrugged off his coat and handed it to her.
"But…you'll need it." She said. "You need it more. Besides. If I'm cold, I'll just conjure some fire and warm myself.
Oh yes, the fire. Some she would have to ask about later.
"So this time my dream continued. But not from Namhera's position anymore but from an outsider's. I saw what Brave did and it…it was just incredible. Never would I have thought that it's possible." She shook her head.
"Would you like to tell me?"
She continued walking.
"Brave…he was a healer's apprentice, just like me. So of course you learn a lot about different types of injuries and what side effects are possible. Two of the most common are infections and blood lost. Both are very dangerous. Even the smallest cut, if infected can be fatal. And to recover from blood-loss takes a long time. ^
Well, in my dream Brave did something I've only seen once before. It's hard to describe but it's called blood-transfusion."
Hiccup frowned. "How can you transfuse blood?"
"It's something my people have been doing for ages. If one of our warriors lost too much blood, some of us can donate some of theirs for him. So he can recover faster."
Hiccup was fascinated by the idea. "And how do they do it?" "Well, basically you make a small cut into a vein and put a small thin tube in it. Then you suck at the other end so the blood will flow through the tube and then you make a cut at the person who needs the blood and it flows from one body into the other. (Yes I know it doesn't quite work like this but this is around 800 B.C. so just go with it) But it's tricky and doesn't often work. Not everybody is suitable for donating blood. It's kinda complicated." Hope explained.
Hiccup nodded.
"So what has that to do with your dream?"
"Well, the dragon…I mean Namhera…he was hurt. Badly hurt. He was bleeding out and didn't have much time. Brave knew he was able to treat the wounds itself but the blood-loss was the main-problem. So he did the only thing he could think of."
"He donated some of his blood." Hiccup guessed and nodded. "A blood-bond. I've heard about it amongst humans. Like blood-brothers and stuff. But never between a human and a dragon."
Hope nodded.
"The rest is not as clear. But so much I know. Brave didn't just give the dragon part of his blood. Part of his soul was transferred into the dragon too. They just didn't understand each other, they were connected in a much deeper way than you can possibly imagine." Hope tried to explain but it was clear that she couldn't.
Hiccups brow furrowed.
"But what has that to do with Namhera attacking your village?" he asked.
Hope shrugged.
"He went berserk after Brave died. Maybe it's revenge for not saving him?" "Maybe. But that doesn't explain your dreams of the way he reacted when he saw you. He could've killed Garret. But he decided against it. Somehow your presence calmed it down…" he mused.
"But how? What's special about me?" Hope asked. "I'm just a girl from the desert that lost her parents and is learning to become a healer."
Hiccups thoughts swirled fast.
"Hope, what do you know of Braves family?" he asked, a thought forming in his head.
"Not much. He had a smaller sister. His mother died during her birth and his father died because of an infection when he was only thirteen."
"Was he married?" "Affianced but nothing more. It was lifted when he left the tribe and went to war."
"This is strange." Hiccup mumbled. "What?" "Well, you have a sibling, your parents are both dead, you are training to be a healer and there is a war coming to our world. I don't know but it seems…as if there…is repetition of…a certain pattern." He said slowly.
She frowned.
"But…I don't even want to fight."
"Just think about it. Brave went to war because he was told by that god to do so. It was his destiny. And that his legacy would be needed. What if that god was taking about now, the second rising of Darkness, and what if that makes you…Braves descendant? His heir, his legacy?"
Hope shook her head.
"You're crazy! How would that even be possible?" "You could be related to him through his sister. Or…or maybe he fiancé was pregnant? That way his bloodline would have continued."
Hope still didn't look convince.
"But why me? Why not my brother, or my parents?"
Hiccup shrugged.
"Why was I born the son to a chief, why was I chosen o play the hero? I don't know. There has be something that makes both of us special enough to be chosen by fate."
Hope averted her eyes from his and again scanned the dark desert.
"Then what about the dragon? What has he got to do with it?"
"Everything." Hiccup said excitedly. "Because of him Brave got the chance to fulfill his destiny. And if you two share the same blood…you must have a similar connection to Namhera as he had!"
Hope frowned.
"Do you really think that?"
"I've seen more unlikely things. Believe me."
"So I could stop it from attacking my people?"
"Probably."
"Then we need to find it."
She strode determined ahead but Hiccup stopped.
"Hope." He said silently and waited for her to turn around.
"What is it?" she asked.
"It what we think is right and you can train Namhera, then that means you…have some connection to this war and to…my quest, so…"
"Oh no, no…never." She interrupted him, already guessing his next words. "I will not come with you and your friends. I will not turn against my people. Bad enough if I really have the blood of a traitor. I don't have to act like one additionally. No! I will free us of that monster and return home and live in peace." She shouted furiously.
He raised his arms. "Okay, sorry, wrong question. I didn't mean it like that."
Hope starred into his eyes a second longer then nodded.
"Come on dragon boy, let's find us a thousand years old dragon with anger issues and human blood inside him."
She turned around and made another step forward, when the ground suddenly shook wildly and a giant figured shout out of the sand in front of them.
Roaring it screwed into the air, sending sand flying everywhere. It was the shadow against the nights' sky, blocking out the stars and the moon.
It's glowing eyes fixed on them and it screamed again, flapping with its wings and opening its jaws impossibly wide. Six rows of rotating teeth glistened.
Both teens stood frozen in their spot.
"I think it found us first:" Hiccup whispered. "Do not make any sudden movements."
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For a second humans and dragon stared at each other.
"I knew this was a bad idea." Hiccup whispered.
"You wanted to come. You claimed you could help me train it. Now, here you go, knock yourself out." Hope whispered equally frozen.
"I just inexplicitly changed my mind."
Any further conversation was cut short because the 'Whispering Death' shot down towards them.
"JUMP!" Hiccup shouted and both of them jumped forwards, avoiding to be crashed by the dragon.
They went rolling down a dune.
When the world finally stopped spinning Hiccup sat up but everything was still moving in sickening fast circles.
"Hope?" he shouted and looked around.
She lay a few feet away, dazed but unharmed.
He staggered to his feet. "Come on, we need to get going."
Above them the dragon roared.
"Quickly." He urged and pulled her to her feet.
Together they started running back where they had come from.
He practically pulled Hope along.
They didn't get far.
Something caught them in their backs and sent them sprawling in the sand, face-first.
Hiccup coughed sand.
He looked up and saw the dragon approaching.
"Hope, run!"
"Can't you train it?"
"Not likely! It doesn't seem to be in a listing mood."
"But we have to do something!" she cried.
"I will distract it and you run."
Hope shook her head in defiance.
"Not happening. I stay. That dragon in the reason my people have been on the run for ages. I'll set a stop to that."
For the first time since he met her, Hope had fire in her eyes.
The dragon roared.
"On second thought…"
She turned around and fled.
Hiccup concentrated and summoned all his strength.
Fire erupted from his hands and formed a wall before the dragon.
He knew dragons were immune to fire but it maybe would delay him. And startle, and irritate and hopefully send him away.
He unleashed a firestorm and the dragon was thrown away.
Okay, that last one was a hopeless wish.
But the dragon really reared back and roared again.
Hiccup took that as he cue to leave too.
He soon caught up with Hope.
"And, did it work?" she shouted.
"For now." He panted.
He was proven wrong when the ground again started moving and again the dragon resurfaced.
Pushing Hope behind Hiccup tried a new tactic. It was suicide but maybe…just maybe…he could train Namhera. Or at least clam him down to remember.
"STOP!" he shouted with all his might and held out his palm.
The dragon stopped mid-strike, startled.
"Good boy. Now calm down!" he tried in his most calming but also commanding voice.
The dragon seemed to struggle but then decide what to do.
Its tail flicked upwards to fast for Hiccup to register it and the dragon flipped him aside.
Somersaulting he flew, again, through the air and, again, landed face-first in the sand, a good couple of meters away from the dragon and Hope, who stood defenseless across from it.
"Hope, do something!" he shouted while getting up again for what felt like the hundredth time.
But before he could make it anywhere near the girl the dragon leashed out again with its tail but this time it pinned Hiccup underneath it so he couldn't get up again.
"HICCUP!"
"I'm alright!"
The dragon pushed him deeper into the sand, settling the main-weight on his chest.
"Okay, less okay!" he gasped.
"What should I do?" she screamed fearfully.
Hiccup couldn't really see her. The tail and the sand blocked his view.
"Calm it down!"
"What?"
"If you two are connected, then find that connection before it kills us!"
"You want me to train it?"
"Basically."
"Are you mad?"
"Just do it! Before it suffocates me!"
"I wouldn't be complaining. You are no help."
Any further conversation was, again, interrupted by the dragons irritated shouting.
For a horrible second it was silent and Hiccup thought Hope had been eaten by the thing or something else horrible had happened but then he heard her trembling voice echoing through the night.
"Hey there boy."
The dragon shifted slightly, which didn't help Hiccup in his current situation.
"Please we don't want to hurt you…I guess at least…"
The dragon roared.
"No, no no no no no! We do not want to hurt you! Definitely not! No! We came here to…" Hopes voice faltered.
For a very long moment she was silent.
Then she gasped.
"Hope?" Hiccup asked concerned though it was hard talking when it felt like your father was sitting on your chest, squeezing every bit of air out of your lungs.
"Namhera? That's you, isn't it? You are the dragon from my dreams. Remember me? Just two days ago we…saw…each other."
Hiccup could tell this was awkward for her.
But it seemed to work.
Namhera, or so he assumed, settled down. The rash beating of his wings died down and all he could hear now were the dragons panting breaths.
"My name is Hope."
There was a deep growling sound.
"Sh…shhh…it's, it's okay. I…I just want answers."
Hopes heart was beating wildly.
Her eyes were locked with the dragons white pupil-les ones.
It was unnerving to say at least.
It was only centimeters away from her and she for her liking that was too close.
But then something changes in the dragons demeanor.
Its eyes opened up and it looked less aggressive.
It bowed its head and looked straight at her.
She felt her heart skip a beat and when he beat again it was again that feeling of two hears beating in her chest.
Slowly she reached out with both hands.
Just as she was about to touch him she stopped. Something…kept her from doing so.
Instead she waited.
It only took a few second before the dragon closed the short distance between them.
As her hands connected with the rough scaly snout she gasped.
As was caught in what looked like, a memory.
She saw Brave, lying on dried grass. His breathing was coming in gasps and he was very pale. His chest was blood-soaked and small rivers of blood were tickling down the corner of his mouth and from his nose.
His eyes were huge with fever and unfocused.
He looked drained, hurt, dying.
He shakily lifted his hands and Hope saw Namhera, the same dragon she was just facing, putting his snout in his hands, just like he had done it with her only moments ago.
"Nam…Namhera?"
The dragon made a deep comforting rumbling sound in his chest.
"I'm here my old friend. Rest, save your strength. We still have a long way to go." He answered to the wounded man.
Brave coughed and blood landed on his chin.
"Where…where are we?"
"North of what you once called your home. I've brought us to the Blue Mountains. We can make it back to the others in no time. I've heard from passing friends that they were just over the Terror-Pass a few miles west from here. They will…"
Namhera was interrupted by Braves weak laughter.
"No my friend…we…won't make it. Or…I will at least not. It's…" he struggled to breath "Too late."
"No! No such thing is too late!" Namhera insisted and nudged him softly.
Brave let go of his snout and his arms fell back on the ground.
His breathing was sounding shallow and raspy.
Hope could hear the liquids in his throat gurgling as he slowly drowned on his own blood.
What a horrible way to die.
Namhera curled around him.
"Please my friend. Stay strong. I know you can live!"
Brave coughed again, his eyelids were dropping.
"I'm tired Nam. So many of us have died already. Somehow I always knew I would follow my friends. Back to the old times. Though, I really wish I could see them for one last time but I don't think I can manage."
His whole body was trembling now.
Tears fell down his cheeks.
"Nam…I'm…I'm…scared."
"Sh. Hush, everything will be alright."
"I don't want to leave you."
"And I don't want you leaving."
The dragon's voice felt strained like he was trying really hard to suppress his grief and pain and tears.
"Nam…remember…blood over everything. I promise I will return to you one day."
With that Brave stopped breathing all together. His eyes started into the endlessness of the sky.
The wail that broke from Namhera was not from this world.
The grief in it was unbearable for Hope.
She felt as if something inside her had broken, died with Brave. She couldn't feel her heart beat any longer.
She understood that this must have been what it felt like for Namhera to watch his beloved friend pass away.
Hope bite back a sob.
When Namhera finally calmed down he nudged his friend one last time affectionately to the head, before he carefully, nearly soft and lovingly breathed a gently flame onto the dry grass around Braves body.
The grass burned in seconds and soon a blazing pyre was all that remained of Brave.
Hope felt her heart ache.
She glanced at Namhera.
The once so proud dragon was reduced to a grieving soul that had lost its other side.
"I'll find you my friend and if it's the last thing I do."
The memory changed.
She saw herself standing on top of that dune two days ago.
Horror etched into her face as she screamed.
And the most unusual thing happened.
She felt her heart start beating again. Ba-Bum-Ba-Bum-Ba-Bum. After what felt for a long time, she felt her heart beat again in a harmonic two-beat.
She saw herself and nothing else, zeroed out from the rest of the world.
For a second her features changed, morphed into the ones of Brave and then back into her own and she could see her beating heart through the layer of cloth and bone and flesh, beating ferociously, could see eth blood rushing through her veins.
Braves word echoed through the memory.
"Blood over everything. I promise I will return to you one day."
"Indeed you have old friend. Just not as I expected you to." Namhera mused.
Hope gasped and took a step backwards.
She was covered in sweat and breathing heavily.
Somewhere to her left she could hear Hiccups frantic, if not gasping, concerned shouts.
"Hope? You still there? What's happening? Why are you not answering? Has it eaten you? Hope, answer me!"
"Shut up you idiot. It didn't eat me."
"Oh…good. Then what happened?"
"I'm not quite sure but he's calmer so I guess I did it right."
"Well, I still have trouble breathing so I don't think so much."
"Oh just shut it and be grateful he's not eating us."
She turned her attention back to the dragon.
"And…what do you want from me now?" she whispered, afraid of the answer.
The dragon just very gently nudged her head before slowly rising into the air.
"I'm here to take you where you belong. The legacy of the Great Ones is needed."
"But…I am where I belong." She said confused.
The dragon rose higher and higher, never once breaking the eye-contact with her.
"We will see."
As it flew away she again felt a familiar ache in her chest.
She nearly called it back.
Somewhere next to her Hiccup managed to get up.
"Oxygen! Oh you sweet thing! Sweetest of al sweets." He gasped dramatically as he took deep gulps of air.
He hugged his middle.
"I think I'll have a permanent dent in my ribcage from now on!" he groaned.
He walked slowly over to her.
"You okay? You look…pale. What happened? Why did it leave, where did it go, will it come back?"
She shook her head.
"Tell you on the way back."
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"Wow. So I was right." Hiccup said when she finished what had happened.
They hadn't been as far away from the camp as they had thought, because after only one hour of straight walking, thanks to Hopes talent to find her way easily through the desert where to Hiccups eyes everything looked the same, they could make out the outlines of the tents not very far away.
Hope just nodded.
"What do you plan on doing now?" Hiccup asked.
"I don't know."
"Will you order him to go away?"
Hope didn't answer that. Instead they walked in silence for a long time.
Finally Hope sighed.
She smoothed down her cloths and asked slowly: "What would you do if you were in my shoes?"
Hiccup took a deep breath and slowly let it out again.
"Honestly? I don't know either. But Brave was connected to the first war. Now there is a second war and you are here. I don't think this is a coincidence.
I think you are like me. Chosen to help in this war, to fight Darkness."
Hope stopped and to Hiccups astonishment they were already back.
"Call your dragon. Someone has to let us in." she said softly, not looking straight at him.
Hiccup nodded and whistled sharply. He hoped Toothless would hear him.
He didn't know how long they had been gone.
But to his great relieve a shadow appeared soon after he had called out and Toothless blinked at him accusingly.
"Yes, I know bud, it's late and I went without you, I'm sorry."
Toothless wacked him over the head with his tail.
"Yeah, I guess I deserved that. You gonna let us in now?"
Toothless stretched his head through the barrier and Hope and Hiccup grabbed don to him and passed through it.
Silently they walked through the camp.
When they reached Hopes tent they stopped.
Hope looked at him.
"You are wrong. I am nothing like you. I don't want to have anything to do with past wars or present wars of blood-bonds and dragons. I don't want to fight anything. A lot was already taken from me. My parents, my freedom; I'm not going to let anyone take control over my live too. Goodnight Hiccup. I see you tomorrow."
With that she disappeared inside her tent.
"Goodnight Hope." He said silently and walked back to the outskirts of the village where their tent was.
Upon entering he noticed that Kate's blanket had slipped of her shoulders.
Carefully he pulled it back up before he walked over to Josh.
Carefully he shook him until the older boy opened he bleary eyes.
"Rise and shine, it's your turn to keep watch."
As he laid down to sleep he was still worried. But something told him. That it would turn out alright.
AN: Puh. Long one, isn't it? I want to thank you all! I just got my 100th review and it felt fantastic!
Thank you to Strife134 for giving such a nice review!
Hope you still like it, those of you that still read it.
I know it's awfully long but please keep it up, it will be worth it!
Love Kate