Chapter Forty:
Mizpah
The dragon flew right into the middle of the ring of wizards, hovering on their brooms, stopping exactly to the same height Jack was.
Although the other boy never noticed him, Jack felt an immediate heartache at seeing him. It was Hiccup, not further than twenty metres from him. He thought his broken and calloused heart would behave more maturely at the reunion, however it crushed so intensely that Jack felt like he was fifteen again.
What a curious thing it was to watch fate unfold. The green eyes had once memorised every part of the blue ones; they had adored and worshipped and esteemed them more than anything else there was to behold in his life. And now they held each other's gaze like strangers. Jack then had the terrible realisation that the other boy hadn't recognised him.
"Dragon Rider," one of the wizards' voices boomed across the field. "We call you."
Hiccup merely stared in confusion. It was either fight or flight.
Fighting a small and unprepared muggle army was one thing. Beating a party of wizards on brooms was something else entirely. However, it was never meant to be a fight, and as soon as the nearest wizard on a broom conjured a white light from the tip of his wand, it became clear to both dragon and rider that no enmity was destined to either of them. Surrounded by a line of wizards on brooms, the dragon made no attempt to attack.
Once all wizards had descended to the ground, the Wizards approached Toothless and Hiccup with tremendous caution. Granger gave wary steps toward the dragon, being the only person with previous experiences with dragons.
What no one had seen coming were the ones hiding behind the line of trees. Merida and Angus stepped out carefully, the fierce red curls unmistakably standing out from the green meadow. Now you cowards show up? Hiccup thought. However, Merida's showing up sparked a new event – surrounding the clearing, all sorts of wizards appeared, too shaken, to mesmerised, too scared to venture much further than a few steps, at first tens, then dozens to a couple of hundreds of wizards - and then Hiccup also spotted centaurs, goblins, and even elves. Too many magical beings in one place.
"It's the Dragon Rider!" Some exclaimed, some in shock, some in awe; but all in wonder.
Hiccup soon realised he was in the centre of what could very soon become a conflict - the wizards that had hid in the forest showed deep hostility against the ministerial wizards that began to land in front of Hiccup and Toothless.
"We don't want a fight." Said Granger to Merida as the girl neared the centre of the clearing. "We come in peace."
"Ah, I can see the peace ol'right," Merida retorted. "Hidden in the underground fer us ter fend fer ourselves. Now y'all appear fer the dragon rider."
"I think we can come to an arrangement." Insisted Granger.
"I'm taking part in no arrangement." Hiccup pronounced loud and clear from Toothless' back, but Merida only eyed him with a smirk.
"I think yer' about to change yer mind." She spoke. "Look around yeh. Recognise anythin'?" The boy looked at the wizards and centaurs surrounding the field. "Yer home, Heccup. This is the Black Army."
As soon as she said that, the large clearing suspended the delusionment charms, and like a huge blanket being stripped off the land, hundreds of little tents appeared on the field, a huge camp yard, much resembling the arrangements of the former Quidditch games… Soon, even more creatures began crawling out of their camps, more elves, goblins, witches and wizards until where the eye could see.
Hiccup was still too stunned to function properly. From there on, he began moving on autopilot. Thoughts of Astrid occupied all of his mind. The fact that Toothless was out in open for Wizards to see, the survival of the Black Army, those were too far in the back of his mind. The questions that stormed his mind, how the hell would he find Astrid? And how had he been teleported exactly to that place, where he would so luckily find not only Merida, but an entire party of Ministry Wizards? The boy had thought those had been extinct… His mind shut down completely, and instead he became a dysfunctional wandering body that merely nodded to every word that reached his ears, their meanings lost beyond the walls of his skull.
No fight exploded in the field that night. Merida and some of her Black Army wizards cast a magnificent revealing spell on the clearing that transformed the blank area into a massive camp - tents, bonfires, floating candles littered across the land in a magnificently warm way that made Hiccup immediately feel like home. It could not be that the Black Army was still standing, active and functioning like a living organism… it was too unreal, too much of good news when the boy had no capacity to even process anything as remarkably good as that. Merida told him that they had become the safest anti-muggle resistance, aside from the Ministry's hideout, which the girl politely regarded as a burrow of rats, cowardly hiding from the real world outside, barely giving help to any wizard or magical creature in need.
Meanwhile, Jack very, very stealthily, snuck away from Azel, disappearing into the forest outline. Hiccup, it seemed, was not the only one overwhelmed with the sudden turn of events. Meeting the green eyed boy turned out to be an overbearing panic-inducing situation. Jack merely, and as he himself thought, cowardly hid in the shadows of a tall pine tree, hugging his torso as if trying to crush his own rib cage. And there he'd stay for hours.
The reunions were much less warm than they were expected to be. Although Azel launched herself into Merida's arms as soon as she saw her long lost friend, there was an undeniable reaction of shock from the red haired at the revelation that Azel had stayed with the Ministry. It was much later that the girls joined Hiccup, now in a more sensible state, to share their story:
"We were ambushed by witch-hunters several months ago," Azel explained later that night, once Hiccup, Merida and Azel found themselves sitting by a fire in the heart of the camp (Jack had told Azel he was not yet ready to get face-to-face with Hiccup, and the latter knew nothing about him quite just yet). "They were ready to throw us to the fire, but Merida managed to retrieve her wand, and got us out."
"I did get quite the burns fer that," Merida added, extending her arm to reveal a small, however nasty scar on the side of her elbows. Azel looked ready to cry.
"I told you to run while you could…" Azel started, but Merida dismissed it with a hand-wave.
"Argh, I wouldn't be able ter live with mah-self if Ah had," She concluded. "We really got separated afterwards, when thes daft knitwit thought it'd be a good idea to join her precious Ministry-quorters…"
"Hey!" Azel protested, but Merida shushed her with a frustrated yell.
"They're oll only in here for thes stupid conquest, ter go back ter obscurity, innit? Because fer us, burnin' in there, we could oll go ter hell if it was up ter them," she spat so poisonously that it was nearly impossible for Azel not to feel both hurt and guilt simultaneously. "Yeh've picked yer side. Ah've picked mine. The thing is, I'm not only here fer thes stupid dragon," and then Merida turned towards Hiccup, eyes wide open- "no offence."
"None taken," The boy frowned. "Merida, I still haven't caught up, what do they want with me?"
The girl gave him the most incredulous look, like the boy had asked something absurdly stupid. "Don't yer know it, lad? Yer the dragon rider!" She exclaimed. "Yer what everyone talks about! The one who levelled an army of muggles, burned muggle streets ter the ground… yer- Merlin's beard, yer legendary! And ter find out that it was yeh this whole time? Goodness me!" Excitement began to take hold of the girl's words as she began gesticulating frantically. "And ya don't even know it, that's so… yer!"
Hiccup frowned in even more confusion. "Something tells me you want to recruit me and Toothless just as badly as the Ministry, Mer." He said.
"Firstly, that's an awful name fer a dragon," She raised a finger. "And secondly, Ah don't really need ter recruit yeh. The Black Army has always been yers fer the takin'."
"How did you even find all these people?" Hiccup finally stood up, taking in for the eleventh time the massive camp trickling with magical beings of so many shapes. A few yards away, Toothless lay on the floor warily as a dozen of small children swayed and played with the dragon, too excited to keep much distance and too terrified to simply throw themselves at him. Toothless only seemed scary. But better than anyone, Hiccup knew of his tremendous serenity with others.
"We've been recruitin' everyone we could save, really." Merida replied proudly. "Most of them were rescued from witch-huntin's, but some had been held captive, others were simply comin' alon' the way. In whatever way they came, we've made room fer more. We don't really stay in the same place fer too long, it could become too suspicious fer these muggle devices, but we've had surprisingly low incidents thus far."
"It's incredible," Hiccup breathed out. Merida only smiled proudly. All around them, hundreds of tents stood proudly throughout the clearing, lit warmly by bonfires and torches, the starry sky above splashed with the milky way. Despite the survival nature of those meek structures, there was such a warm, cosy sensation to it. Not to mention the magic coming from all sorts of creatures. Floating knitting needles worked by themselves on countless blankets and sweaters for their refugees. A few tents down, a huge brass caldron brewed steamy soup with game and gathered roots and vegetables. Some Irish songs played by violins and flutes echoed in the centre of the clearing, where, surrounding the bonfire, elves, witches and even some fairies danced the old folk to the upbeat rhythm…
Hiccup felt such a strange sense of belonging that his heart ached in bittersweet joy. He felt tears coming to his eyes. It was both the happiest and the saddest he felt in years. Everything was beyond beautiful. Out in the open, with Toothless, surrounded by his own kind, Hiccup only wished he could properly enjoy that feeling without the nagging guilt…
The thoughts of Astrid were still storming his mind in such devastating fashion it was impossible to revel in anything else.
"Merida, there's something I need to tell you…" He started, his brain scanning for the right words to tell his story of the past few hours of his life. However, as soon as he had said anything, something else stole his gaze.
A jovial face stared at him from the other end of the clearing. He was tall and lean, dressed in deeply black vests that would nearly blend in with the shadows. Volcanic black hair framed his face, and if it weren't for his ocean eyes, he would have never recognised Jack's features. The boy's heart gave out an uneven thump.
The other wizard had a strange look, a mixture of guilt and hope…
Next to Hiccup, Azel watched the scene unfold. She had it all pictured in her head. The destined encounter, the desperate run and the longing hug, the breathtaking kiss…
Hiccup pulled out his wand. Jack's eyes widened in terror, and then the first curse came out.
A massive uproar of screams erupted from the people in the camp. Jack threw himself out of harm's way before the blasting spell could reach him, but soon another green jet came up, flying right above his shoulder and blasting against a tree trunk several yards away.
The girls shot up to hold Hiccup down. Toothless's ears raised in alert, and his large curious eyes turned into menacing slits. Hiccup managed to wriggle himself out of the girls' hands, freeing himself to cast yet another round of hexes at the despicable, worthless, disgraceful being in front of him. Jack did not fight back, however; instead he dodged whatever spell Hiccup aimed at him -
"Expulso!" Hiccup roared, and Jack was thrown away, flying several metres to the air before he collapsed painfully on the ground. Another collective gasp exploded from the surrounding wizards. Hermione, Dean and Seamus stormed out of their tents to check the commotion.
Azel hurried to Hiccup's side, her eyes wide open and her skin paler than ever. "Hiccup, please! You'll-"
"Get off my way, Azel." The boy commanded so coldly and deeply that the girl paled even further, but did not stop trying to hold on to his free arm.
"He came here for you!" She screeched. That made Hiccup stop dead in his tracks. "You're the reason he's here as well."
That had caused Hiccup to stop - Jack's eyes met Hiccup's, and for a while, everything froze, suspended in the air. Both boys stared at each other with such poisonous hatred - one feeling neither of them expected at their reunion. So much anger was exchanged in that stare… and yet neither could look away…
Rushed steps interrupted broke them away from their trance. "What the devils is happening out here?" Barked Dean Finnigan.
Hiccup contemplated the image of Jack, fallen and struggling to breathe before him, and then he said "He seems to have a death wish."
"I'm dying already, why not." Jack hissed, putting himself in a less-pitiful sitting position, his hair dishevelled. "It's great to see you too, Hiccup."
"Dying, aren't you?" Hiccup spat coldly. "Spares me the effort of killing you myself."
"Hiccup!" Azel intervened again, finding the boy had gone too far. "Just listen, please," she all but begged.
"They're coming for you, Hiccup." Jack raised himself, standing painfully. "The Order of the Seven hunts for the Dragon Rider. They've nearly caught you in Covent Garden; they've been on your track ever since."
Hiccup's eyes narrowed. "How do you know of Covent Garden?"
"I've been following you for weeks now," He answered. "I thought Astrid would be with you."
That was it. Him mentioning her name, Jack, of all people, pushed Hiccup further into the edge he did not want to cross; A tear escaped his eyes. "I lost her." He spoke so low he was barely heard, but Jack's heart gave a painful beat.
"What do you mean you've 'lost' her?"
"I lost her in Helheim. Before Merida found me." Hiccup couldn't form that many words before that choking sensation began taking hold of his throat… he swallowed his feelings up, however; he'd never allow himself to break down like that. "If that's all you came for, you should have left me alone." He said finally. "I don't need you."
Something broke in Jack's heart, now beating more painfully than it should be. He simply stood pathetically on his spot as he watched Azel approaching Hiccup's side, reaching his shoulders with her small and delicate hands. Hiccup's legs failed to move properly as he mostly stumbled away from the centre of the torch-lit clearing, into the edges of the forest.
It was out there, surrounded in darkness, away from every other living thing that Hiccup found his voice again.
"Thank you," he muttered weakly.
"Figured you'd need some quiet." Azel responded wisely. Not far from the edge of the camp, they found rocks big enough to sit on. Hiccup all but collapsed on one of them.
"How dares he speak to me…" Hiccup muttered darkly. "After leaving me the way he did…"
"He has told me everything, Hiccup." They stayed like that for a while, sitting in the dark in quiet contemplation… "He really did come here for you; he said he wants to fix things."
"I don't need you here if you're going to defend him."
"Hey, now you listen to me, Hiccup Haddock." Azel spoke so fiercely that Hiccup was shocked to hear such a strong tone from sweet, innocent Azel. "I get it that you're heartbroken beyond repair, but Jack had his fair share of heartbreak too. I've lost too many friends already, Haddock, so you better stop being this insufferable brat or I'll make you stop. I'm not choosing sides amongst my friends here."
Shocked at her outburst, Hiccup merely stared at her through the shadowy night. He could see now how weathered Azel's once pristine face had become: that glint, the one only survivors were fit to wear, was now overly present in her eyes.
"I know you're in pain," She spoke quietly. "But believe me, he's in pain as well. And regardless of his pain, of his curse… trust me, Jack is still a good person, and he is still trying to do the right thing… I don't know many people who can do that… It's so easy to go on passing our pain forward to others… When I met you, you were just as good; in fact you were so impossibly good, so impossibly kind... And I've seen some of that still. So please, please, don't let that fade away too. It would break my heart too much to see you lose that."
The boy had to swallow the lump in his throat. Azel had said the one thing that could set his strings loose right then, and that's when the boy allowed himself to cry. Within a moment, Azel embraced him by his shoulders as the boy wept, like an infant.
"I don't think I'm good still…" He sobbed. "I've killed, I've hurt…"
"We all have." She spoke softly, caressing his hair. "My dear, we've all become monsters."