Chapter 7
He had possibly the most dangerous plan in mind ever. Well not more dangerous than cutting a Night Fury free after you shot him down, so at least not the most dangerous plan in his life.
After telling Astrid at least all the parts she had to know, because she would never agree with him otherwise, Hiccup dipped down into the Darkness, he could hide himself in perfectly.
Now how would he get in there without being noticed?
His first plan was to just jump in there. Toothless was agile and strong, sure, but he couldn't take this many Vikings all at once. He eventually settled on infiltrating the cages before the fighting began. Luckier than ever, Hiccup just happened to be positioned on the second stealthiest Dragon in all of Midgard and it was a near moonless Night, so sneaking around wouldn't be that hard.
He quickly found and entrance to the underground maze that were the tunnels under Outcast Island. Having no Idea how to navigate in there, he asked Toothless for a bit of help and the Dragon made weird echoes, that bounced of the walls.
"Here." Toothless said in his own draconic voice. It still felt weird to know what other only understood as slight croons and warbles really meant, but also good to have his best friend actually speak to him.
Following the Dragon, Hiccup quickly made his way to a room so close to the arena, she could already hear the shouts. At the end of the room stood a big metal door similar to the one in Berk for the Dragon pens and Hiccup concluded that they held the Dragons that were about to fight in here.
His suspicion was quickly confirmed when he saw to the other side and saw a wild Nadder, readying for attack.
"Calm down. I am trying to help you get out here." He held his hands in front of him in a defensive manner. Hiccup now focused on the other Dragon could take in more details from it. The Nadder was purple with hints of gold at the ends of it wings and it's back. She had her body arched, tail ready to shot anyone who comes to close.
As Hiccup slowly went downwards in examining the Dragon, he saw a little metallic glow in the Nadder's right leg. The Nadder seemed to try and focus on putting it's weight on the left one.
Toothless also registered the scared Dragons and out of instinct wrapped his tail around Hiccup to pull him closer and take him out of a direct shot line from the Nadder.
"Who this?" He heard the Nadder growling behind one of Toothless' wings. His Dragonese, as he now called the language, was still not really fluent and most of the things, he understood were only parts of a sentence.
"He friend. Not hurt you." Toothless answered as a way of making sure the Nadder would pull no moves on his human.
"Toothless. I can handle one Dragon. You don't have to keep me safe." He tried to reason with the Night Fury, but still made no attempt to leave the safety of his Dragon.
"No. She hurt. Won't listen to you." Toothless responded and Hiccup came an idea.
"I can help with the pain." Hiccup said. "If you don't attack me, I can pull out whatever you have in your leg." He continued, trying to get the Dragon out of its defense instinct mode.
The Nadder visibly relaxed, even though Hiccup couldn't notice it, still being behind Toothless wing. She gave the draconic equivalent of a nod and Toothless slowly released Hiccup, always keeping an eye on the Nadder.
Hiccup deliberately slowed down his movements, not wanting to risk startling the now more relaxed Nadder. After a few slow steps, he stood beside the Nadder, nearly twice his height, examining the little metallic glow he had seen.
It turned out to be an arrowhead, still stuck inside the scales. Hiccup slowly caressed the scales around, making sure the Nadder knew he didn't want to harm it. Slowly he pulled at the arrowhead and after a few tugs, it finally got free, making him land on his ass.
Instantly the Nadder felt some of the pain being relieved, her wound now being able to heal properly. She turned around, looking the human in the face who, instead of attacking like all the others, helped her and appeared to have a close bond to this Night Fury.
After a short moment of consideration, the Nadder nuzzled Hiccup with its beak and got a few scratched in return.
"Okay. Now you have to help me." Hiccup laughed out loud.
"What?" The Nadder asked, fully content with being scratched by those little and lithe paws humans possess.
"My friend is trying to free the other Dragons that are still trapped and I have to distract all these people, but I can't do that alone." Hiccup said. His eyes went over to the metal gate, covering the view of the arena and the many people waiting in anticipation. "We go out there and try to get all the attention. You just have to defend yourself." He said, his voice filled with hope.
He knew it was a long shot, but still, he had no other Ideas to distract all these people. He'd perfectly understand if the Nadder refused. She was trapped here for who knows how long and probably in constant pain.
"Human friend. Help you." The Dragon responded. Hiccup felt a weight lifting from his shoulders with a long sigh.
He shortly explained his plan of just stirring up trouble without attacking the Vikings. When both Dragons understood and accepted the plan, he searched for a way to open the gates.
Instead of Berk, these cages were integrated in the underground system, so you could open them from both sides.
Once ready, he opened the gate, both Dragons springing in the middle of the arena. Instantly the shouts from the gossiping Vikings stopped at the sight of a Night Fury and a Nadder way before the fighting was supposed to start.
Slowly, Hiccup walked over to his friends and this time, instead of turning quiet, the bystanders went into a riot, some wanting to help the boy that seemed to fragile and weak with a Night Fury in the ring, others asking themselves why he had set the Dragons free and why they weren't attacking him.
Hiccup advanced further on Toothless, very much aware of the questioning stares he was given.
The Vikings took a bit of time, but eventually they figured out the Dragons wouldn't attack this strange boy. Not wanting to let this opportunity go by, the first bunch jumped in the arena, trying to get close to the Dragons and be the first one to kill a Night Fury.
…
As Toothless and the Nadder continued to fight, Hiccup saw more and more Dragons flying freely into the sky. Apparently, the diversion worked exactly as planned.
After some more defending against oncoming Vikings, Hiccup heard the flapping of wings above him. When looking up, he saw a certain blue and gold Nadder flying above him, shooting spines in front of a nearing Viking, stopping his advance.
"Hello Milady." He greeted. While making sure not to put him in a vulnerable position, he mounted Toothless, not even hooking himself in. "Go." He shouted at the Nadder, still fighting against the oncoming waves of Vikings.
With that signal, he clicked the tail mechanism and ascended into the skies, followed by Astrid and the purple Nadder he spontaneously befriended.
She looked down, seeing the angry and quite confused mob of shouting blobs on the ground below them. "I see you made some new friends." Astrid spoke, ruffled by the howls of air against their ears.
"Yeah, I don't think they like us very much." He said, still hearing shouts from down below, questioning themselves what happened.
Astrid turned around, flying towards the entrance of the underground maze once again. "Come." She shouted, urging Hiccup to follow her. "I'll show you my new friends and hopefully they won't try to kill us." She joked.
Hiccup sighed and rolled his eyes, not understanding why they should go back, but knew this was not a discussion he would win.
When arriving, he saw a slender girl with black hair, surrounded by two more older people, probably father and mother of the kid. Behind them was a Dragons, its body as reflective as a newly sharpened axe with a thin neck, seemingly snuggling up against the girl for attention.
"Hiccup these are Heather, her parents and Windshear." She explained, when both teens had landed. Said parents instantly backed off a bit at seeing the supposed most deadly Dragon ever, right before their eyes and only then did they realize someone actually rode that beast.
Heather also stiffened at the sight of a Night Fury, but still held her smile and stepped forwards. "Astrid told me you were the one that distracted the guards?" She asked. Hiccup gave a quick nod, confused as to where Astrid got to know her. "Thank you very much." The brunette said surprisingly formal and held out her hand. "Without you, we couldn't have escaped that rotten hellscape."
Hiccup quickly understood these were people who unfortunately shipwrecked here and got captured by the Outcasts. He conceded that Astrid must have found them and wanted to free them together with the Dragons. He took Heathers hand and gave it a light shake before looking over her shoulder and once again eying the Dragon.
Heather noticed this gesture and went over to her animalistic friend. "This is Windshear. I met her when we were imprisoned and bonded with her." She gently stroked the Dragons snout and her eyes went over to Toothless. "I see you have a dragon friend yourself." She joked.
Hiccup wanted to retort, but shouts from Outcasts who returned in their tunnels to see empty cages stopped him before he could talk.
"As much as I want to talk right now, we have to get out of here." Astrid jumped in, having already jumped back on Stormfly's back. "Stormfly and Toothless can only carry two people. You come with me and you fly with Hiccup." She explained and pointed a finger at heathers parents.
"What?!" Both exclaimed at the same time. "We won't leave our daughter alone on this Island." Her mother said, skipping over the part where she would have to fly on Dragon back.
"I didn't say we have to." Astrid countered and held her hands out defensively. "Heather can fly on Windshear."
"What?!" This time it was Heathers turn to shout. "I can't fly. I don't even know how."
"You don't have to know how. Windshear will fly for you. You just have to hold on." Hiccup jumped in. "Look. I know it's insane, but it is also out best chance of getting out of here. The boats are too guarded and I don't know any other ways than flying." He tried to reason with the understandably upset parents and scared daughter.
"Okay." Heather responded after a short silence. Her parents turned around, but before they could shout Heather began speaking again. "It's our best way out. We have been trapped in here for years and finally have a chance to escape. Even if it's dangerous, it is better than whatever we have here."
Her parents contemplated for a few seconds and heard the shouts of Outcasts once again. Hearing the people who abused them, seemed to give their consideration a push and the adults nodded at each other.
Taking this as a sign, Hiccup jumped on Toothless and urged Heathers parents to do so too. Heather slowly climbed onto windshear, with every ounce of her being feeling very much scared of what's about to come.
"Are you sure this is the best way?" Astrid asked Hiccup, while watching Heather hopelessly try to steady herself on Windshear.
"Honestly, I have no Idea." He answered. "But we don't really have another choice." He concluded. With Heather having finally seated herself and found something to hold on to, he explained to the Dragon, to be very careful, for Heather's sake.
Once in the air, the three Dragons were joined by many others, Hiccup concluded to be Dragons Astrid freed.
"You are so dead when we get back home Hiccup." Astrid spoke up.
Said boy turned to see Astrid giving him a mix of smile, anger and concern. "Oh come on. What do I deserve that one for." He joked, knowing fully well what Astrid didn't like about his plan.
"You can feel lucky we are in the air right now." She said back. "Anyway. You have to teach me this Dragonese or whatever you call it. It would have been so much easier calming these Dragons down." She gestured all around her to the now free Dragons that followed their saviors.
"I am still learning myself. But I can try to teach you." He explained to her. He could see what she meant. Understanding the Nadder was a huge step in helping it and getting it's trust.
"What is this 'home' you are talking about?" Heather jumped in. Since takeoff, she stayed silent, clutching onto whatever she could find to steady herself.
"Oh right." Hiccup slapped his forehead. "We live on an Island, with some Bog-Burglars. Our current goal is to start a tribe with Dragons and humans. I thought it would be best to take you there first and then you can choose what you want to do." He explained.
Her parents heard the conversation and visibly gulped at the part of an Island filled with Dragons.
Hiccup noticed this and tried to comfort the frightened parents. "Don't worry. Most of them are trained and as long as you aren't provoking them, they won't do anything to you." He looked over at Heather, who despite being in the air for the first time actually made for an okay flyer. "And look at it that way. All these Dragons haven't attacked and your daughter actually rides one, so what could go wrong."
"Actually I have some questions for you." Astrid asked her passenger. "With all that's been going on, I never got your names." She said after seeing the approving nod of Heathers mother behind her.
"My name is Inga. This is my Husband Ulf. We are fishermen, but got into a strong storm and washed up on the shore of Outcast Island." She explained. With that, most of the flight went more or less straightforward, with the exception of a Dragon acting up here or there when they grew hungry.
…
After one or two hours of flying, you can't really tell when the only pointers are stars and the moon, Hiccup saw the familiar shape appear over the horizon and almost flew at full speed, if Ulf didn't press himself over him to have a better view at what could be considered a small outpost by now. Some houses still needed more work and besides a great hall and said houses there wasn't much to see.
Once they actually arrived, which only took a few minutes after seeing the Island, Ulf and Inga instantly dropped of the Dragons, happy to finally stand on solid ground again. Heather took a few more seconds. Instead of her parents, who were scared most of the way by surrounding Dragons, Heather only concentrated on herself and the feeling of flying. Even after settling on Windshear after a few minutes of flying, that distinct feeling of freedom, power, connection to her Dragon and a sense of majesty never left her body.
Finally deciding she really needs some rest, Heather slowly climbed of Windshear. Upon contact with the ground, her knees buckled under the weight as if she had flown her entire life and walking was the new experience.
Inga looked around and took in the surprisingly warm air around her. "Where can we sleep?" She asked Hiccup, who already began taking the saddle of Toothless.
"Either in the great hall, or in my place. I have no problem with sleeping in the hearth for a few nights, until you decide where you wanna go." He waved off, failing to unstrap a particular hard to get to strap with his exhausted hands. He really needed to upgrade the saddle, and when he's at it maybe test out some new ideas.
"We can sleep in the great hall. No need to disturb your sleep." Inga said and already went up to the equally great doors.
"Actually, I still have some questions, so is it okay if I sleep in Hiccups house?" She asked more to her parents than the person she wanted to steal the room from.
"Huh? Yeah sure." Her father responded, nearly collapsing from sleep already while simply standing. Inga thought about it for a second, but reluctantly agreed. They were already separated for what felt like eternity on Outcasts Island. What would one Night more do.
After both parties split up and Hiccup made sure the Dragons wouldn't smoke the entire place while they slept, Hiccup, Astrid and Heather made their way up to the place.
Hiccup noticed, that Heather often stole glances at Astrid while barely looking at him. He didn't pay much attention to it however and mainly concentrated on taking some furs and blankets to cover himself while Heather occupied his room.
Astrid had decided to help Hiccup with his endeavors, regardless how many times he told her it was no problem. "Hiccup?"
"Yeah."
"What is that?" Astrid asked with concern in her voice. She pointed her finger to Hiccup's side, which he deliberately tried to shield from her view. His normally green tunic was stained with a red undertone.
"Nothing really." He answered.
"Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the third." Her tone and choice of using his full name made it pretty clear not to argue back. "You tell me what that is right now."
Hiccup resigned, hearing that tone in Astrid's voice. "Some dude tried to sneak up on Toothless, but he was too occupied fighting off others, so I tried to stop him." He explained. Seeing her hard glare that always meant, either you show me or I'll make it worse, he lifted up his shirt to let her see his wound.
Astrid saw the wound and cursed something under her breath, that Hiccup didn't fully understand. She sprinted up the stairs and quickly came down with a little bandage set. Together with her blankets and axe this was the only thing she still had left of her original Stuff from Berk.
"Sit." She ordered while packing out some salves and a bandage. "How long did you intend to keep this a secret?" She asked him while gently applying ointment to the gash.
"Preferably until it was healed, but you kind off ruined that plan." He said, trying to lighten up the mood with his usual sarcasm.
Astrid shortly stopped with putting on the bandage to give him her most deadly glare yet. "And how do you think this would heal if I don't treat it for you?" She said, more or less to give herself a better feeling than she had.
Hiccup slightly hissed when Astrid pulled on the bandages to make sure they were tight enough and wouldn't fall off overnight. "I just- I didn't want to burden you with my problems, okay?" He said, his voice turning more serious now. "And I didn't want you to think of me as the Hiccup I was back in Berk." Since the day he was voted Chief, he never said his old Nickname to Astrid anymore, but that didn't mean he didn't associate with it.
This time, instead of giving him a stare that could kill an army, Astrid punched him on the shoulder. "Hiccup, you know I don't think of you that way. If anything this just shows how much you love Toothless and how brave you are to defend him with your own body." She exclaimed. Hiccup still rubbed his arm. Apparently, it didn't matter how exhausted Astrid was, her punches still hurt like she just awoke and somebody stole her axe.
"Yeah well. I still think not getting hurt is optimal, so." He joked. Regardless of how many times Astrid said it to him, every time he heard her praise him, it was like ascending to the heavens.
"I have it." She jumped up. "When you are healed, I'll train you. Then you can defend Toothless without having the risk of dying." She explained. Hiccup still gave an incredulous look, like she just said something about the gods coming down from Asgard and shaking hands with him.
"Astrid. I thought you knew me. I couldn't fight somebody even if I wanted to." He said, still slack jawed at her idea.
"That's what training is for muttonhead." She said, with the same joked voice hiccup often used. "Maybe you can't fight somebody now, but what if one of the best warriors of Berk trained you?" Astrid walked rounds in the room, very proud of herself for coming up with this idea.
Hiccup still thought of it to be a wasted effort, but knew talking against Astrid, especially when it came to training was also a wasted effort, so he resigned and slumped down against Toothless, who despite the whole conversation managed to fall asleep.
Astrid had to relax herself with a deep breath, before turning and walking to the stairs. She gave Hiccup one last look before going up the stairs, a wide grin on her face. "Night Hiccup." She called after herself before vanishing on the upper floor.
"Night." He quickly answered so that she still heard him. He turned to see Heather still standing in the doorway to his room, apparently thinking about something. The Auburn-haired boy remembered why she decided to sleep here instead of her parent. "I know you have some questions, but I am really tired, so can we do that tomorrow?" He held up a hand to protest against any words she might have said.
Heather resigned after a short while of contemplating and backed off in Hiccups room to get a good sleep herself. After all, this entire escapade of freeing Dragons and in the progress her parents happened during a time she normally slept.
Another week, another Chapter. Hope you liked this one with Hiccups view on the whole freeing Dragons part. The plot is slowly starting to roll and Hiccstrid with it.
Once again we have the cliche: Thanks for all the suport, but it really is helping. Especially reviews helps motivating me to write this further and better than I ever thought I could. Of course favourites, follows and even the silent readers are also welcomed.