Chapter Thirty-Nine:
Toxophilite
Jack leaned against the cavernous wall of the vault-room, illuminated softly by floating candles. His black hair seemed to nearly blend in with the shadowy corners of the room. In the centre of the vault, Azel, Hermione Granger, Seamus and Dean Thomas-Finnigan twitched a rather curious looking radio device, a strange sight considering they were several metres beneath the ground — such a fact had not impacted the signal on their end in the slightest.
Only a day before, a strange signal had burst into their radar, with a voice that caused shivers on both Jack and Azel. The ghost-like sound of Aster's echoing tone had been more than enough to keep both teens awake for the entirety of the night. It could not have been Aster — and also it couldn't not be.
"What are we lookin' fer again?" Asked Seamus while Hermione tapped the radio with her wand incessantly.
"Anything else appealing for the Dragon Rider," Azel replied as she examined an old crumbled chart sprawled on the table. "Hunting grounds, burning woods, muggle ambushes specially…"
"You did say he interrupted a Witch-Hunt, didn't you Jack?" Hermione asked from her seat, her wand still calibrating the multiple sensors on the radio. Jack nodded silently.
"It's ben' two days already…" Seamus protested again. "We better not have risked our necks ter the Wizengamot fer nothing…"
Jack gave out an exhausted sigh. For the past two days he had answered question after question surrounding the Dragon Rider. Digging up his past with Hiccup had been less than fun, to say the least. He tried to keep it as impersonal as possible, omitting most (if not all) details from their disastrous affair, but some memories insisted on rising to the surface.
Azel stepped closer to Jack, having given up on her chart.
"Anything?" Jack asked.
"Some sort of gathering at Delamere, I think… muggles have been raiding that region for months now."
"That's still far from the Hackfall Woods," he pointed.
Azel merely shrugged. A strange silence loomed over the two teens. Although Jack's reception had been rather warm on Azel's side, after the hearing their interaction grew more aloof. At first, Jack judged it due to the overwhelmingly serious nature of their mission, but he soon began questioning otherwise. It was then when Jack decided to say something, rumbling through his mind for a conversation starter - and so did Azel, for both blurted out awkward broken sentences out of the blue; both wanted to break the ice at the same time.
"You go first," Said Jack, bracing her arms self-soothingly.
"I'm sorry, I just…" Azel's idea of conversation had been thrown out of the window. "I'm still trying to get it together in my head, you're here and all… Obscurial..? Is that even a word?" Jack shrugged awkwardly. "Two years ago, Professor Longbottom wanted us to perform a Patronus charm… I remember everyone's…" Jack gave a curious look, to which she further added: "Truly, Astrid had a bird-like beast; Merida had this huge bear, it was the biggest one."
"What was yours?" Jack asked, tremendously curious.
"It was a lizard." The girl said simply, but from the corner of her eyes, she could see Jack's judgmental smirk. "Don't hate on my small Patronus," she sensored. "Besides, it makes no difference against a horde of dementors, even a small creature can be helpful. I remember Hiccup's too."
That stopped Jack's chuckling in a beat.
"It was this massive dragon, it had everyone speechless… he had trouble getting the spell right at first, but… when he finally did it, it was so impressive…"
Jack contemplated her words, once again dumbstruck by Hiccup's doings. "He is impressive."
Azel's eyes drifted to his, but he was staring at the other end of the room, filled with emotion. "That was how I knew you weren't lying." He looked back at her. "If anyone is the Dragon Rider it has to be him." They allowed silence to take place a little longer before she furrowed her eyebrows, remembering: "How come you disappeared?" Jack gave her a confused look. "When Professor Longbottom taught us about Patronus charms and dementors, you simply walked out - none of us even saw you leaving."
Jack eyed the floor. "A strong happy memory is required… right?" Their eyes met again. "All of my memories are tainted… blood splashed… trying to reach the happiest of them always goes terribly wrong… I feared it would have triggered me… the same way Dementors can erupt the parasyte within me; Hiccup had helped me so much, I guess he didn't even know that… but when I was with him, it felt like I was almost normal… I couldn't risk letting it out; it'd just put everyone in danger."
Azel allowed that to sink in. Then, very quietly, she took his hand so softly, squeezing it.
"I think I've got som'thing…" Seamus spoke up from his chair, and a small relief filled Jack; no more Hiccup-talk for a while. The other occupants of the room gathered in closer. "It's an emergency signal from muggle hunters, they said they've run from an'ambush gone wrong?"
"Yeah, we've got those daily, what's new?" Asked Azel.
"They described one big black… bat?" Said Seamus, her head tilted to the side of the radio.
Jack's smile drew itself across his face. "That's him."
Hiccup woke up with a sickening gasp of air. Dried red leaves surrounded the boy, and the smell of dead grass and woods invaded his nostrils. There was so much light, and having come straight from the absolute blackness of Hell, his eyes pained to adjust to the new environment of the illuminated forest. Where was Astrid? His rational mind clashed with the dreadful terror, the horror of not having the girl with him. Astrid could not have stayed behind. He had to find her, he had to go back to her… wherever she was.
'Where the hell even am I?' he thought. All around him, tall pine trees surrounded him, the light of day seeping through the trees with a deadly shade of grey. He had no idea what forest that was. Where was Toothless even?
There were three new physical sensations, however: the crushing weight of the portal had disappeared, the cut on his arm still bled profusely, and the strings Astrid had conjured on him had loosened their grip. Hiccup immediately snatched them off, his hands yanking his wand from the pockets in his vest, and then he made himself stand.
"Toothless?!" His dry voice boomed across the forest, and when no sound reached him back. The sharp pain in his arm reminded him again that he was injured. Rummaging through his pack, he summoned the dittany vial and with a yelp, he applied the substance into his fleshy wound. Blood drenched the side of his clothes, and there was a small puddle where he lay only a moment ago. And then he began walking, his steps miscalculated. The fog in his mind shook the world out of balance, and he tried not to trip at every step. "Toothless!"
Perhaps he was still in the same forest he had followed up the river with Astrid, perhaps the monstrous figures of Accalia and Leon and Lonza - had they even been real? They had to be, otherwise Astrid would be with him. It felt like a hundred lifetimes ago that he had met the three children. Or whatever they were.
It took him minutes of wandering until he heard a noise. A distant, booming sound that echoed throughout the woods. A pack of birds raised flights, and Hiccup observed as they beat their wings, away from that place. The boy raised his wand, aiming it to the horizon. The boom appeared again, a small tremor shook the earth, and the boy hoped for a moment that it was Toothless as he watched leaves falling like rain on the ground.
Another tremor happened, and then from above the trees, he could see the smoke, dense and active spiralling up to the sky, and that's when he began running towards it. It had to be Toothless, throwing his jet of flames against anything that dared to harm him ‒ Hiccup couldn't think of losing anyone else that day.
Hiccup's foot hooked against something massive on the ground, and he was brought to the ground. He fell on something soft, and immediately the smell of burnt flesh and death spiralled up his nostrils. He lay on a burnt corpse, a man with blind open eyes - half of his face blackened, emanating smoke.
Hiccup dragged himself away from the charred body.
Was that Toothless' doing? Hiccup looked back to the deep ends of the forest, and forced his wobbling legs to function again. As much as he wanted to, he forbade himself from screaming. Attracting any more attention to himself suddenly felt too dangerous. The smoke became denser, and he brought up the collar of his shirt to cover his nose. And then, running towards his direction, he saw a man. And he screamed profanities as he neared him. They were almost colliding when the earth shook again, and the man tripped, crawling on his fours before standing back up and resuming his race. Hiccup gripped his wand.
"YOU FILTH, DEGENERATE WIZARDS, YOU'VE CURSED US!" He screamed against Hiccup's ears before running off in the opposite direction. Hiccup stared at his vanishing form, and right as he eyed back to where the man had come from, he saw them.
Half horses, half men, the mixed and strong bodies of centaurs galloping towards him. The boy jumped out of one blonde centaur's path, rolling on his back as the centaur ran fiercely, circling the boy. In his hand, a wooden bow aimed towards his heart.
"Wizard?!" The centaur spoke with a deep velvet voice, and Hiccup only raised his wand, nodding. "Then run, they have found us."
Another sound made itself notice, like a bumblebee's buzz, flying in the air, and nearing. From the tree-tops, he caught a glimpse of it: a muggle air-craft, those self-driving drones, hovering above the canopies with its strange weapons.
"Bombarda!" The wizard ordered, and the drone exploded metres ahead of him, crashing into the ground, lifting a curtain of smoke, leaves and stones. The centaur, however, turned back to him with the most urgent, desperate face.
"Get down!" The centaur ordered one second too late, before the fallen drone erupted in a rain of bullets. Hiccup flung himself to the ground, taking cover behind a tree while sparks exploded all around his sight. Peeking from the edge of the tree, he aimed poorly at the drone.
"Reducto!" He yelled, and with a final blast, the machine went silent.
"You fool boy!" The creature scolded him, "The humans shall find us now!"
Hiccup noticed a small bullet-hole in the centaur's back leg. "I am so sorry…" He pleaded, but the creature merely threw him a look of disgust.
More buzzing noises came from the sky, and the boy knew more drones were approaching. "Run, fool!" The centaur commanded him, and Hiccup did not hesitate to follow his instruction. The boy ran until his legs burned. More centaurs had caught up to them, but then so had the drones. And the firing began.
Bullets and nets rained on them, some catching the centaurs as they galloped away through the woods. Hiccup evaded the horses, conjuring as many protego charms as he could, but everything was moving, and the world rolled beneath his feet and bullets popped the ground and the air burst with strings and chains. He wanted to disapparate, but he could never leave without Toothless. He needed his dragon, he needed him… He wasn't sure whether hell was truly Helheim or the woods he was sent to, but every thought faded when a heavy string-net clawed on his ankles, and the boy was yanked face-first to the ground.
An electric chain ran through his body, rendering him immovable, and in between pain and confusion, he thought that maybe he had died and this has been hell all along. Or perhaps he was still alive and stuck in hell all along. He could not tell. Everything came towards him in slow-motion, the running centaurs that jumped over his trapped body, the bullets lifting the dust on the ground. At some point there weren't centaurs running over his useless body, but muggles. Dressed in black jackets, carrying big guns. The boy struggled to think of any spell that could take him out of there, but nothing ever came to his mind. He was immovable, pathetically vulnerable, lying on the ground waiting for the slaughter.
This is it, he thought. So much for Astrid's sacrifice… Only to be caught by muggles all over again. Fate certainly had a sense of humour.
"We've got one, lads, he even got his wand…" said a strong, malicious voice from an approaching hunter. The metallic sound of a gun clicked above his face, and he struggled to eye to the tunnel of the weapon. "Nighty-night." The voice said, and Hiccup closed his eyes…
A gruesome piercing sound took place, but it wasn't from Hiccup. A heavy weight collapsed next to him, and the boy saw the muggle's body falling next to his. The boy was unsure whether he imagined it, but a red arrow was sunken into the man's head.
"Incoming!" The witch-hunters screamed again, and before the boy could do anything, chaos restarted, but this time, more galloping centaurs appeared, their bows aimed at every head they could target, and their arrows pierced the air with a swift sound, bloody once it penetrated the flesh and bones. Red splashed on Hiccup's sight, and he could not tell whether he was relieved or even more terrified by now. As the hunters fell, the weight of the chains was lifted from his body, but the electric current took its time to allow the boy to regain his mobility.
"Get down!" A female voice shouted, and Hiccup ducked his head when an arrow came spinning above him, sinking into a muggle's shoulder only metres away. When Hiccup looked back to the centaur, he saw a black skinned creature, with white flocks of hair on the male, chiselled features; but what struck him was the girl mounted on the centaur, a red mane of hair flashing as the creature turned to him… Oh, no way, it cannot be…?
"Merida?!" Hiccup spoke, shakingly. And as if in a dream, the girl aimed her bow cautiously, examining the boy. The same vivid blue eyes, the same bold and daring expression, and the untamable thread of wild red curls, framing her face in what Hiccup had always resembled as flames.
"Heccup?" She lowered her bow, jumping off the centaur and running the few metres towards the boy, tackling him into a tight hug. "Yer' alive?!"
"You're alive!" Hiccup exclaimed back, his shaking fingers clutched to the girl's back.
"We're fine, Angus, he's not a threat," She sang in her Scottish accent which Hiccup never thought he would be so happy to hear. "Are you with any of the others? Jack, Astrid?"
Hiccup's heart nearly shattered. "I'm alone," he said. "But I don't think we're in the clear yet…"
"We're not," Merida stated, and they both turned back to the woods. "Those bloody machines… Found us minutes ago; we've ben running everywhere like roaches!"
"More approach, boy…" Said the centaur, and immediately, more buzzing aircrafts appeared, their wing-blades slicing the air above them. "Wands ready."
Hiccup fought the shaking in his muscles enough to lift his wand; Merida had her next arrow in place, her eyes alert to any movement. When the drones became visible, Hiccup cursed his blasting charms. "I don't see how you plan on making things easier by not using your wand," Hiccup said, pointing to Merida's bow, and as soon as she shot her first arrow, he wished he hadn't; Her arrow flew straight up and struck the machine with a deadly clunk, and an emerald flash exploded from the metal. The drone fell in a spiral of green fire and sparks.
"Yer were sayin'?" She said, a smirk of defiance on her face.
"Nothing, nothing at all." Hiccup gathered whatever dignity he had left.
"Are there more, Angus?" She asked the centaur, and the creature held his gaze to the sky.
"They have assembled up North," Spoke Angus, eyeing the clouds. "They have a beast… a big fighter..."
"Toothless!" Hiccup exclaimed, a new sense of urgency taking over him. "They have my… They have Toothless! We need to get to them now!"
He thought it was better to keep from them just what Toothless was for now, despite their quick questioning. Angus kneeled for Merida to hop to his back, and then extended his hand to Hiccup with a look that spoke all but trust. With the two wizards mounted on him, the centaur galloped through the woods so quickly — he was nothing like Toothless' fluid motion; riding on the back of a centaur was much more rough, bouncier and uncomfortable. Much of the trip was hidden behind Merida's scarlet mane of curls, All that mattered was reaching Toothless. Eventually they neared a large clearing in the forest.
Hiccup hopped off Angus, followed by Merida, who held her bow firmly in her hands, another arrow ready to kill. Silently, they approached the line of trees before the open field of grass, and that's how they saw it: Toothless had been tied down right in the middle of the clearing, ropes and chains held his body to the ground… The men surrounded the creature visibly scared, but the dragon didn't move a single muscle. Toothless's eyes were wide open, the green irises locked on the nearest muggle, who stared back with a frightened look.
Hiccup was about to break into the clearing, running all the curses and hexes in his mind to save Toothless when an impossibly strong hand closed around his arm and yanked him back, pushing him violently against a tree trunk. Leaning down from his tall height, Angus levelled his face until it was an inch away from Hiccup's.
"What is that thing?!" Angus's voice was so deep and fear mongering that Hiccup had to focus very hard on not shaking in front of the centaur.
"That's my… that's Toothless," Hiccup breathed out. "He's mine."
Angus gave out a dry, humourless laughter. "Yours?" He eyes back to the clearing, where the men, still oblivious to them, approached the dragon ever so slowly. "You are the one they refer to as the Dragon Rider?"
The boy remained immovable; he knew they were running out of time. "I need your help."
Angus laughed ever more cruelly than before. "Our deal lies with the dead now." He spoke. "Humans tame no dragons, and there are no songs in the stars for dragons and centaurs."
Hiccup eyed both him and Merida in despair. "Please…" But the girl only watched, speechless, as the dragon stood still, waiting for the attack. "Merida, please!"
The man nearest to Toothless wielded his spear. With one flung motion, he attacked - but to no avail; Toothless was far too quick, much too strong; his teeth clenched around the shaft of the spear, tearing it apart from the man's grip. With a terrified scream, the surrounding men pulled on their weapons.
"I can't change Angus's mind, Heccup…" Merida had the most sorrowful look in her eyes. "We can't handle 'dem all… it'd be suicide."
Realising what her words meant, the boy swallowed drily, staring back to the centre of the clearing. "Fine," he said, reaching for the end of his hood and pulling it over his head, his face shadowed. "I'll go alone."
Merida screamed Hiccup's name, but the boy had already lunged out towards the clearing, running in a straight line towards the dragon.
It took a moment until the muggles noticed him. When Toothless eyed Hiccup's form speeding up from the line of trees, he gave a loud, vicious roar. He had gotten the hunters' attention, and soon the shooting restarted. With his wand in hand, Hiccup jumped into the air and spun around, disappearing before any projectile could reach his body.
It became a game of shadows. Loud cracks echoed through the clearing, men would scream, and before they knew it, the young wizard had their bodies trapped with incarcerous charms, apparating and disapparating in a lethal dance. Fear and adrenaline rose up into every man's chest, and one by one, they began falling, chains and strings latching to their writhing bodies.
"Relashio!" Hiccup yelled towards Toothless, and the dragon's chains were blasted loose. With new found freedom, the dragon unleashed his flames, and the very familiar choir of screams ascended in the forest.
It was a sight of gore, fire and blood. A doomed battle. Toothless displayed no mercy, scorching the clearing into absolute ash. Hiccup apparated one more time on the dragon's back, shooting the last cutting spells on the ropes that held the creature, his very best friend, releasing him entirely. From the end of the field, Hiccup stole another distant glance from the figures of Merida and Angus. The girl had stepped only a bit further out into the meadow, but the centaur remained warily still, hidden behind the trees. Coward, Hiccup thought, and then dragon and rider lifted flight. Hiccup was making a new plan already, now with Toothless he could fly over the forest, find the Hacksaw Forest and recommence his search for Astrid - for Accalia and Lyon and what was the other's name again…
Dragon and rider were barely making over the canopies when they found themselves surrounded by a flying army.