Third Person POV
"Jon. Have you done what I told you to do back then?"
"Ah yes. I'll get to it after this."
Jon, a Therondian soldier, quickened his cleaning duty near the bowsprit of the ship. Right ahead of him was the view of the fjord leading to Arendelle. Tall mountains stood on each side of the water proudly, with clear skies adorning the view even more. While the atmosphere could definitely be defined as calming, the Therondians onboard the ship could really use some food and drink. Thus, Arendelle was to be their next stop.
Everyone on the ship readied themselves to dock as the ship advanced to Arendelle. One crucial bit that nobody could afford to forget was the ship's prisoner, who was Jon's responsibility. He was told to cover the prisoner's cell so that no prying eyes could spot that the ship was carrying a hostage.
"Alright, the chief," Jon told himself as he finished cleaning the bowsprit.
Jon made his way down the lower floor. Once he was there, the prison cell was on his right with the chief of Berk inside. He merely sat on a corner while staring blankly at the floor.
"Right," Jon cracked his knuckles and grabbed the cell key out of his pocket. Afterward, he grabbed a piece of cloth from a nearby storage compartment. It was to be his device to silence the chief's mouth.
Jon unlocked the door and gained Hiccup's attention. Fear immediately painted Hiccup's face as the Therondian approached him. With force, Jon pulled Hiccup by the hair and wrapped the cloth around his head and over his jaws. Because of the wound on his cheek, Hiccup whined in pain as his tongue tasted the saltiness of the cloth. It did not take long for him to yet again taste blood as his wound opened up slightly because of Jon's recklessness.
With that done, Jon grabbed both Hiccup's wrists and cuffed them. He also cuffed Hiccup's remaining leg to one of the bars of the cell. Now, Hiccup was totally immobilised. He could not move nor speak.
"For the finishing touches…" Jon spoke to himself.
The Therondian walked out of the cell and locked it. He was going to cover the cell with a large cloth when Hiccup's stomach grumbled loudly. Jon stopped in the middle of his track because of that.
"Make that noise again and we won't feed you," Jon warned.
With that, Jon covered the entire cell with the cloth and left. What was already a pretty dim atmosphere turned into a dimmer one for Hiccup. His only source of light was the window on the hull. Thus, he looked up to it and stared at the sky on the other side of it, wishing he were there.
'The things I'd do to have Toothless with me…' Hiccup mentally wished.
"Did they ever tell us that they were coming?"
"I didn't receive any letter of the sorts, My Queen. I'm sorry for the sudden–"
"Oh don't sweat it."
Queen Anna, her sister, Elsa, and Kai the steward rushed their ways all the way from the castle to the port. For Anna and Elsa, it was a slow afternoon of papers in their office. It all turned into a bit of chaos when Elsa spotted a sight of a ship on the window. They upped their dresses in terms of formality and left their unfinished lunches that they were eating as they were doing the papers.
"I do wonder what brings them here," Anna asked her sister, who was in control of the horse they were both riding on. "Did we perhaps miss a scheduled trade with them?"
Elsa half turned to her sister. "I just got here, Anna. I wouldn't know! I don't think we even made a deal on a trade at all."
"Let's ask them when they get here," the little sister replied. "Therondia actually rarely comes–OH!"
Anna cut herself when a little fire spirit jumped from Elsa's shoulder to her own. Bruni. Luckily, the little fire lizard landed perfectly. But even so, Anna used her hand to cover the spirit.
"Bruni, don't shock me like that!" Anna warned. She made a cup from her hands and carried Bruni with it. This fire spirit was the playful kind, so he merely licked his own eyeball in response.
Within minutes, the royalties of Arendelle and their steward had arrived by the port. It was at that moment too when the Therondian ship entered the small bay, passing the mechanical watergate the Arendellians had lowered. On duty sailors signalled the ship to park it near where the Arendellian royalties were standing by.
Being the queen herself, Anna waved her hand enthusiastically at her arriving ally. Elsa, on the other hand, was calmer. But she did wave her hand too. The onboard Therondians replied with the same gestures and smiles.
Once docked, the Therondian sailors set a broad wooden plank to bridge themselves to the dock. From the top first stepped down a proud man dressed like the royalties. Upon seeing Queen Anna and her sister, he bowed and continued his way down the plank.
"Queen Anna. Queen Elsa," the man greeted.
"I'm no longer the queen," Elsa sheepishly admitted. "Can't have two queens either."
"Then how am I to address you?"
"Um…" Elsa found herself unable to answer.
"We can definitely have two queens in this kingdom," Anna excused. "It's good to see you, Lieutenant Xavier."
"Likewise, Queen Anna. That I can be sure of," Xavier spoke gentlemanly. "I apologise for the sudden visitation. We are here because we've been on an expedition lately. We're stopping here to stock up on food and water and anything else that we might require."
Both sisters rounded their mouths. "Ohhh…" They spoke in unison.
"Would that be of trouble?" Lieutenant Xavier asked.
"Of course not!" Anna quickly replied. "We're most happy to help a friend. Please!" Anna moved to the side as if she was providing a path for the lieutenant. With that confirmation, Xavier turned around and whistled at his men and women.
"Let's go, men," he signalled. His subordinates onboard, who had been listening to the conversation, began to prepare.
"I suppose a nice tea is in order," Elsa asked with a polite smile and glanced at Kai, who understood the assignment.
Xavier beamed up. "How could I say no to that?"
What was a quattro of Arendellian silently turned into a trio. Kai, Elsa, and Anna left with Lieutenant Xavier to a place where they could have the nice tea. What they did not know was that a curious fire lizard had left Anna's shoulder and wandered off by himself.
Because of his small size, nobody spotted him. All of the Therondian sailors were too preoccupied with their jobs. Bruni had never been onboard a ship. Not one that was still afloat, anyway. Thus, he naturally drew interest in the big vessel.
With his sticky feet, Bruni climbed up the plank from the bottom side. Once onboard, his enthusiastic eyes scanned the deck with wonder. However, it quickly turned chaotic as he had to avoid being stomped by the unaware sailors.
Bruni was doing well initially until a foot accidentally kicked him off to a distance. The fire spirit eeped and ran off to a random direction. That random direction apparently led him to the lower floor of the ship. There he found nobody inside. Thus, Bruni decided to stay on this floor for a bit and waited.
The fire spirit's curious eyes once again led him to inspect anything he found interesting inside. The empty rums that reeked of wine. The hanging hammocks by the ceiling. And then, he stopped at a cabinet covered in a cloth. Or that was what he thought.
Nonchalantly, Bruni crawled under the cloth through some bars into the 'cabinet.' Inside, he was shocked to see a man with hands and feet cuffed lying on his side. Hiccup.
Hiccup was asleep but breathing heavily through the cloth that muffled his mouth. His saliva dripped down his cheek and got mixed with some blood. It was safe to say that Bruni was terrified. Luckily, the fire spirit possessed sympathy and compassion, which the Therondians lacked for.
The fire spirit thought of a way to wake the Viking up. He initially thought about igniting himself up and making contact with the human. But, seeing that he was already in a sorry state, Bruni brushed that idea off.
Soon, a light bulb popped above Bruni's head. He climbed the human's head and stopped by his ear. He readied his tongue and shot it into the Viking's ear canal.
"MRRFFHH!"
The weird sensation woke Hiccup up and made him jolt. His heart suddenly ran fast, which caused him to breathe even more heavily.
"Wfwat wash that?" Hiccup asked himself. And the answer jumped in front of him. Bruni stood under the ray of light provided by the window, smiling proudly of his idea. The sight of the lizard left Hiccup puzzled.
"Fwhoo arff youff?" Hiccup asked for the identity of the lizard. Bruni once again responded by merely licking his eyeball and smiling innocently.
"Mfff…" That was a sigh of despair by the Viking.
'A lizard, out of everything, had to be here. Why can't it be just–'
That thought was cut short when Bruni suddenly ignited himself in fire. Hiccup's eyes immediately bulged.
'It's a dragon? This guy is probably the tiniest dragon to ever exist! In here? Arendelle?' Hiccup asked himself mentally. 'Doesn't matter. He's my best chance to get out of here!'
"Mmfff!" Hiccup called to the lizard and gestured at the cuff on his hands, hoping he could somehow free him. Luckily, Bruni had the same intention, so he understood the task.
Bruni approached the cuff and bit it by the chain. Once he had a good hold on it, he charged a large blaze in his mouth in an attempt to melt it. However, the fire was too big and contacted Hiccup's hands instead.
"Mmm!" Hiccup pulled away his hands. "Jusff sfall fiyah, okhay?" He instructed.
It was a good thing that Bruni was a smart one. Thus, once Hiccup gave his hands again, Bruni bit the chain again and charged a small fire instead. It was small enough to not make contact with Hiccup's hands.
'A small dragon making a fire that big… Impressive,' Hiccup complimented.
However, this turned out to be a long process. Hiccup could swear it took five to ten minutes until the chain link finally glowed orange. Seeing so, the Viking pulled the chain apart to snap it. The link deformed slightly, but it had not snapped yet.
"Mmff…" A sigh escaped Hiccup's mouth. He let Bruni 'eat' the chain link again to warm it up again.
"Oh please, kind sir! You really don't have to–"
"Oh come on. You Therondians have been a good help. This is the least I can do to pay you guys back!"
Hiccup noticed the chatter of two men from the upper floor. It was followed with slow heavy footsteps that descended down the stairs.
'That voice… I think I recognize that…' Hiccup thought to himself.
"Huh, pretty dark in here. And empty. Man, you guys really ran out of edibles."
"Eheheh… Yes, we did. You could just put the box there, sir–"
"No need. I think I know where this one belongs!"
More footsteps followed and they sounded like the man approached Hiccup's cell. A loud thump followed afterward, which Hiccup assumed that the man placed the box right in front of the covered cell.
"Say, when did you run out of food?" The voice spoke again. Since this time it sounded closer, it gave Hiccup an idea of who it was.
'Is that… General Mattias?'
"Exactly a day ago," another voice replied, which sounded closer than Hiccup thought it would be. He assumed it was a Therondian.
"So you guys haven't eaten anything since yesterday?" The Arendellian general asked, worry sounding in his voice.
"We've endured much longer back in the past," the Therondian answered. After this, footsteps sounded. The two men began to walk away.
"You have my respect, son. I can't imagine that. When I get hungry, I get angry as well. Hangry, as the youngsters call it. Ha!"
That single laugh ended the conversation. Hiccup heard no more footsteps as they sounded like they were ascending the stairs. What the Viking was not aware of was Bruni's progress on the chain link itself. It was now glowing red hot!
"Mm!" With force, Hiccup pulled the chain apart and it snapped.
'Yes!' Hiccup cheered internally. In return, Hiccup gently caressed the lizard with a finger, since it was so small.
With his hands freed, Hiccup removed the cloth that was wrapped between his jaws. It was a tight wrap, so he needed to put some muscles into it. In the process, he felt the pain on his hand and his cheek, since they were both wounded. Luckily, his Viking blood drove him and helped him remove the cloth.
"God…"
The Viking readjusted his jaws. While doing so, Bruni seemed concerned.
"I'm okay, little bud," said Hiccup. He curled a small smile since that was all he could do.
Hiccup gestured at the cuff on his foot. In response, Bruni approached one of the links and once again bit it. He used the same treatment as previous since he did not want to harm Hiccup with the fire.
Naturally, this consumed some time. As time passed, nobody visited the ship as Hiccup heard not even a footstep on the deck above him. This gave him the time and space to think of a way out.
"I can't just walk my way out of here… I can't even walk to begin with…"
He looked around and stopped at the window. It had metal casing but no hinge, so it was not the kind to be opened. However, this was his best chance.
"I'm sorry, little guy, but you're going to have to work hard for now," Hiccup spoke. This caught Bruni's attention and curiosity. The Viking knew that the lizard was curious as to what he meant, so he pointed at the window.
Hiccup explained, "That's my way of escape. Think you can somehow break that open?"
Bruni looked up to the said object and stared at it. He gave no response and continued burning the cuff.
'I hope that's a yes…'
With some time, the chain link grew red hot. Hiccup took this cue and pulled his leg with all his might. It did not snap on the first go, as Hiccup struggled with the puncture on his calf. He pulled it for the second time and the link deformed even further.
Hiccup tried to break it for the third time and indeed it was the charm. It snapped.
CLANK!
"Good job buddy!" Once again, Hiccup petted the lizard as a thank you. "Now, I'll definitely pay you back more later. But the window, please!"
Understanding the assignment, Bruni climbed up to the window and took a good bite on its frame. He could feel that it was a way thicker metal. Thus, he was not sure if he could melt this one down.
Hiccup closely inspected the progress from the floor. Minutes passed and the steel seemed to be quite resistant. What he did not know was that it was going to take hours for the steel to melt.
"Hmm, is that smoke I smell?" A suspicious voice called from the deck.
'Oh crap!'
Hours passed and the sun was about to set on the far west. The stars began to emerge as the blanket of the sky. Lieutenant Xavier of Therondia agreed with his men and women to continue their sailing once the sun had set. The Arendellian royalties wished they would stay longer, but Xavier said that he had to meet a schedule.
Neither Anna nor Elsa questioned it further.
The Arendellians and the Therondians gathered once again on the spot where they first met in the morning, next to the ship.
"It was such a pleasure to spend the day with you two," Xavier bid. He bowed like the gentleman he was. In return, Anna and Elsa bowed.
"You are all welcome in our kingdom," Anna said.
Elsa nodded in agreement. "Be careful on your way, all of you. Oh, before you leave," Elsa turned around to see the person she wanted to see in the crowd, Mattias. "General Mattias, did you bring it?"
"Right here," the general replied and walked forward with a fine sword in his possession. He handed the sword to Elsa by the handle. Xavier was in awe of the beauty of the sword.
Elsa showed the sword to the Therondian lieutenant. "We made this sword with the finest metal we can find in our land. It's also crafted by our most talented blacksmith. I think this will be a fitting gift for you, Lieutenant."
"My my… I am touched," Xavier responded and accepted the sword. "I will cherish it. My deepest gratitude, Queen Anna, Queen Elsa."
After accepting the sword and bidding their farewells, the Therondians finally got onboard and hoisted their sails. The two different kingdoms waved their hands as they parted further.
"You sure Bruni is okay? We haven't seen him all day," Anna asked her sister while waving her hand.
Elsa murmured initially. "I'll have Gale look for him."
The breeze of the night was gentle but was enough for the ship to leave the bay. As the ship approached the watergate, it lowered to provide a way. The mechanic emitted a loud voice of gears grinding against each other as the heavy gate descended.
CLANK CLANK CLANK CLANK CLANK!
Slowly but surely, the ship passed the watergate. Right after it did, the on duty guards by the towers of the watergate raised the gate again.
CLANK CLANK CLANK CLANK CLANK!
But this time, a mysterious figure held onto the gate as it rose from the water.
Hiccup.
He coughed water out of his lungs as he held onto his dear life by the gate. Apparently, he jumped out of the window of his cell right at the moment the gate was ascending. He timed it well enough to ensure his dive was not heard by any ear as the gate was ascending loudly.
He did struggle to swim as he was physically injured on a lot of spots. Thus, he clung onto the gate tightly to reach the surface and gain some air.
Soon enough, the gate stopped ascending. With that, Hiccup slowly made his way to the right side of the gate toward land. He could not swim well, so he thought it would be better to hang onto something while making his way to dry land.
However, there was certainly someone enjoying the water. Bruni. The fire spirit swam enthusiastically, often circling Hiccup through the gaps of the watergate.
"Heheheh… I never knew Arendelle had a dragon," Hiccup spoke. "What are you, exactly? You're way smaller than a Terror… Yet you can ignite yourself on fire…"
The Viking pondered in his thoughts while making his way. Little did he know that a pair of eyes on the tower spotted him and raised his crossbow.
"Intruder!"
Hiccup heard that and stopped. "Huh? Wait, no!" He looked for the source of the voice but could not find it. "I'm from Berk–CACK!"
An arrow landed on his shoulder and pierced it. Luckily, it only hit the flesh but it was not without pain. Bruni panicked at the sight and climbed onto the Viking's wounded shoulder.
Hiccup raised his remaining functional arm to signal defeat. "I s-surrender! Please! Just don't shoot me–GAH!"
Another arrow unfortunately was shot.
"General Mattias, we found an intruder! He was hanging on the watergate."
"The watergate? When?"
"Right after the Therondian ship left. We suspect it might be their prisoner."
"Take me to him."
…
"Wait… This is the intruder?"
"Yes sir."
"This is Hiccup Haddock the Third! The Chief of Berk! How is he here? Why is he in a terrible state?"
"E-eh… the shoulders were our doing, sir. But everything else was not. He was already in terrible shape."
"Oh no no no… Queen Anna is going to be furious…"
"Queen Anna, forgive me for interrupting your dinner…"
"It's okay, General. What is it?"
"..."
"Eh? Hiccup? He's here?"
"..."
"HE'S WHAT?!"