Chapter 273
Hiccups POV:
It's been three months since Amira and Aamin had met Xiu and in that time a lot has happened which was expected since it was a lot of time and I am happy to say that nothing big like magical foes coming had happened. For starters, Kaamisha and Jahid had joined Amira and Aamin on the visits to meet Xiu who as expected, they absolutely adored, and they all made it clear that the Sultan was looking forward to meeting her. Speaking of my little Xiu, she's grown up enough to begin crawling which was both a good thing and a bad thing for a lot of us, but we couldn't be happier about it. It was a good thing since the exercise was good for her and it was an adorable thing to see but sadly she'd taken to chasing Zheng around the room to try and grab onto his tails while also making it hard to keep an eye on her since, one moment she's there and then she's gone.
This last bit was a source of constant worry for us since as anyone could guess, there's been multiple kidnapping attempts, all ending in failure and serious injury for the would-be kidnappers. The twins also tried to do it as a joke and the end result was a broken arm, nose and twisted ankle for Tuffnut while Ruffnut got a bad bruise on her back, lost half her hair and a broken leg and that was just from my wives. As punishment they not only had to muck out every yak and dragon stable on Berk, they also had to scrape off the barnacles on the underside of every ship and with the floating fortress increasing fish production, more ships had been made so they had a lot of ships to tend to. As for the real kidnappers, they were all cooling their heels on Outcast island until we could decide where to send them which Alvin was hoping would be soon since his dungeons were getting full. It was understandable since I'd been taking Brant and Chara out on hunting trips where I'd watch them capture the crews on pirate ships together, intervening only when I was needed which was rare.
Speaking of Brant and Chara, they'd both gone up another level in their training which meant Brant was learning to navigate through environments without his eyes while Chara was learning the basics of opening up all her other senses so she could learn to see without her eyes to paint an image of her surroundings. Along with this, Chara's kunai belt had gone through its own improvement like Brant's spear had gone through once but her weapons improvement didn't just change shape but offered a little more variety in her kunai's ability in the form of three new kunai types. To begin with, its appearance had changed so the leather was now black and instead of being like a leather sash it had become an X shape with kunai lining both sashes while in the middle was a black circle shaped disk with a light blue nightfury curled up in the center.
As for her new kunai, the first one was yellow in color and for lack of a better description, it's a lightning since if it hit someone they'd be shocked into unconsciousness and if it hits the ground or wall then everyone within five feet would be shocked until they collapse to the ground unconscious due to a dome forming around it. The other ones were brown and they're basically able to do no harm to a person as it just sticks to their bodies but that's when it's true power kicks in and every rock that's not buried or part of a building is pulled towards the person until they're basically wrapped in a blanket of the stuff that doesn't let them move. If it hit the surface of something though, stone pillars shoot out of the surface under or by anyone within ten feet sending them flying back so far that they'll be knocked out. Finally, there are the steel grey ones that'll cut through anything with ease which would help Chara not only in combat but also infiltration since she could just walk up to a wall, stab into it and then drag the blade across, slicing through it like a hot knife through yak butter.
Now after all this time, we were going to Arabia for a vacation and so Xiu could meet the sultan who no doubt would spoil her rotten when he saw her since Aamin and Amira told me how the anticipation had been driving him crazy. Apparently, he'd even considered having a nursery built for her in the palace which I had no problems with until I learnt he intended to turn an entire wing into the nursery instead of just a room thinking that my family could move there permanently if he made Xiu happy enough. Fortunately, they were able to calm him down enough to see sense and just changed the room across from mine into the nursery for little Xiu which was something I was looking forward to seeing.
This brings us to now, with my family and I making our way through the portal door leading to the palace garden with little Xiu being cradled in her mother's arms. I looked around at the surrounding garden and smiled before taking a deep breath of the fresh Arabian air and then let it out while smiling since the air smelt so different from the air in the archipelago. I looked around at the garden with a smile on my face before turning to my family and said.
"Alright, everybody, while we're here you must remember to be polite with the royals, don't go to the bazaar alone and most importantly, never go anywhere alone, especially if we have visiting nobles around." The Brant and Chara looked at me confused while my wives understood where I was coming from. "There are nobles out there who'll do anything to get me under their control for one reason or another and they're not above using my family to get to me and if they can't have me, I'm sure they'll settle for one of you." Brant groaned.
"I'm going to have to deal with a lot of girls, again aren't I?"
"Yes, and a lot of boys possibly who'll want to prove themselves and what better way than defeating you, my adopted son who I've had trained for years." Chara then said.
"So, we should keep our weapons on us at all times?" I nodded.
"But only use them when you have no choice." She nodded making me smile. "Now let's go greet the royals and let them know we're here." They nodded and we entered the palace to begin our vacation while I released our dragons from my shadow.
5 days later
It's been five days since we arrived in Arabia and since then not much has happened other than the sultan being introduced to Xiu who he absolutely adored, even when she'd reach out with her tiny hands and tug on his beard. He wasn't solely focused on Xiu though as he was also interested in Brant and Chara who he insisted, call him 'Jd' which was Arabic for grandfather. In addition to this he requested to see how well their training had come and requested Brant spar with a few of his guards and as expected, the fight was over in fifteen minutes with my son as the winner. It was easy to tell that everyone was impressed by his skill for someone so young but unfortunately the guards didn't take too kindly to being beaten by a child until I revealed that Brant had been trained by some of the greatest masters and had magic gear. This at least got them to stop looking so down while they nursed their wounded pride before Aamin asked for a friendly spar with Brant who accepted with Aamin using a scimitar and Brant using his spear. I was surprised when Aamin actually put up a decent fight and was able to hold Brant at bay for five minutes on his own, but Brant had more advanced training and the longer reach with his spear, so he won.
Besides that, I'd joined Aamin on some of his journeys into the desert to hunt down bandits who would use the dunes to hide themselves before attacking any passing traders or travelers. Thanks to my travelling scorpion and Scouter Automatons along with Aamin's knowledge of the bandit's routes and his attack strategies, we were able to bring in quite a few groups who are now in the palace dungeon. I was surprised though by the sendoff we were always sent out with, with the crowds giving way to us and cheering us on while wishing us good luck on our hunt. When we got back with the bandits in chains being forced to march in line behind us, we received many more cheers and applauds with a couple of kisses blown our way.
Today however, Aamin had decided to go on a hunt by himself with just his guards to take down a few bandit groups since he didn't want to become reliant on me and my scorpion. I was alright with this since it gave me time to spend with my family and take them all out for a trip to the bazaar which was a lot bigger than the ones we had back on my island and had a lot more merchants with items. Right now, me and my family were all dressed in native robes which covered our appearances to avoid being spotted while watching a man, swallow a sword while people watched the performance with interest. I on the other hand was enjoying some sugared dates I'd bought from a nearby stall as we watched and listened to the various sounds of the bazaar while also keeping an eye on my family since there were some unsavory types in every market place.
It was then I noticed some guards rushing through the bazaar covered in sand while looking panicked about something but when I got a better look at them, I felt my heart begin pounding in fear since they were the same guards that Aamin took with him when he went to hunt some bandits this morning. What's more is that they were all running on foot when they were meant to come back on horses with bandits behind them but what really made my blood run cold was Aamin was nowhere to be seen. I rushed over to the lead guard using my ox flame boots speed mode and grabbed his shoulders, shocking him as I asked.
"What happened and where's Aamin?" He looked at me with fear in his eyes and I could see he was hesitating, so I exposed the eye of the dragon and asked in a voice just above a growl. "Where is my brother?" He gulped.
"They took him!" I pulled him closer.
"Who took him?"
"Aali!" before I could question him further, I felt a hand placed on my shoulder and turned to see Hadasa.
"Hiccup, I heard what he said but for now we need to get back to the palace since right now you're getting a lot of people's attention." I looked around and saw it to be true before growling and letting the guard go and then escorting him and the others along with my family back to the palace.
1 hour later
The guards who had returned had just finished explaining what happened and although I had been trained to channel my anger instead of letting it control me, I wanted to punch something in fury. Apparently while they were out hunting bandits, they were ambushed by none other than Aali himself with only six other men, but they didn't do anything to attack Aamin and his guards nor did they get the chance to attack the guards. Apparently, Aali had raised a hand and suddenly, they were surrounded by giant sand twisters that smashed into them, throwing them off their horses while tossing them around and blinding them. When they were able to see again, they were able to see Aali had Aamin, tied up and gagged next to him with a single sand twister on either side of the men but the scary thing was, these twisters had large gaping mouths with glowing red eyes within them. It was clear as day that this Aali guy was using some sort of magic to attack Aamin and his guards so they wouldn't have a chance to fight back. I took a breath to calm down before I pulled out my golden falcons to see if Aamin was still alive and placed them on the floor before the Sultan asked.
"Hiccup, what are you doing." I turned to him.
"Making sure Aamin is at the very least, still alive." I then turned to my falcons and said the words that sent them to find Aamin before one took off and seconds later we were shown the image of Aamin, tied up in a cell that looked to be built into a wall and by the looks of things, it was ancient. "He's alive but it looks like their base isn't just some random desert cave by the looks of the cell." Amira asked.
"Isn't that a good thing since we could narrow down the search a little." I nodded.
"True but it also has its drawbacks since places like that often have traps, hidden passages for foes to hide or escape through and multiple other things that can cause trouble for anyone who attacks it." They nodded before Kaamisha asked.
"I don't suppose you have something that was given to you by the gods that could help us find him?" The image of my map came to mind and I gave her a smile. "By the gods, you do, don't you?" I nodded.
"I'll find where their hiding this evening and send in a few of my automatons to scout the base and find the best way to get in there and rescue Aamin and get him out of there." They nodded before Hadasa walked up.
"If you're going then you're taking us with you." I knew she was referring to herself and my other wives.
"I can't Hadasa, this is something that I need to do on my own since the more people, the higher the chances of us being caught which'll put Aamin in danger." She gave a hesitant nod of understanding making me smile before I turned to the Sultan. "I think it best that the guards patrolling the city and palace should be increased incase those bandits might use the kidnapping of Aamin to cause a bit of chaos in the city." He nodded before I turned to Toothless who had been sitting against the wall with Twilight, watching us. "Come on bud, we've got work to do." He growled and nodded before standing up and giving Twilight a quick nuzzle and then running up to me, allowing me to mount him. "We'll be back as soon as we can." With that said we took off out of the throne room through the balcony's door.
6 hours later
It's been six hours since we left and since then we've been able to use my mystic map to find where Aamin had been taken and other than a few trading camps, some caravan camels, a couple of stones coming out of the ground and the occasional house but not much else. Now night had fallen over the Arabian desert and we were closing in on the place where Aamin had been taken which I figured would also be the base for the bandits. Now, we were flying down a large canyon towards where my mystic map claimed the bandits were hiding and where they were holding Aamin prisoner.
It was then I noticed something up ahead and using my eagle eye to see what it was and saw it was the giant door that was as tall as the doors to the Great Hall and twice as wide with a large stone bulls head above them with a lounging tiger on either side. Furthermore, these doors and statue looked to be made from the same stone as the canyons wall meaning it was likely carved from the canyon wall, but it was then I noticed something important. I pulled Toothless' reins back, making him stop and look back at me while crooning in confusion as I leaned down to his head and whispered.
"Easy bud, there's a guard standing in a gap that's built into the wall." He looked around and saw the guard and let out a silent growl. "Let's fly above onto the side of the canyon and we'll catch him by surprise."
Toothless nodded before we silently glided onto the top of the canyon and made our way over to the part that was above the gap where the guard was hiding. Using the eye of the dragon, I got a good idea of the guard's position before releasing my mystic hook and jumping off the cliff, launching my hook to grab onto the ledge while releasing enough of the rope to swing right into the opening. I slammed my feet into the surprised guard who went flying back into a wall before collapsing to the ground unconscious, making me smile as I pulled my hook back to my prosthetic and switching it back to my hand. I looked around and quickly realized that this opening was actually a passageway that was man made, judging by the walls made out of bricks and the passage built into the right side of the wall at the back. I walked up to the edge of the entrance, looking out into the night and signaled Toothless to come down and he silently glided down into the passageway. I gave him a chin scratch and said.
"Alright bud, let's see what these bandits have got going on in this base of theirs." I pulled out a few jewelwigs and tossed them down the passage to see what we could expect.
1 hour later
It's been an hour since we arrived at the base and took out the one guard who was keeping an eye on things from a secret entrance and since then, I've released my jewelwigs that helped me get an idea on what I could expect around the base. I found the place was mostly ruins with collapsed pillars, ruined statues, cobwebs and dust everywhere with the occasional scorpion running around. I did find a room full of various treasures which I'm guessing were the things they'd stolen from the various people that became their victims when they were travelling through the desert. I'd also discovered their dungeon where Aamin was being kept in a cell and saw how many guards were keeping guard to ensure he didn't go anywhere and developed a plan on how to break him out.
Then there's the guard I'd captured and dragged into my shadow along with Toothless before joining them and began interrogating him using my prosthetics ability to make a person experience their worst nightmare. When I was done, he was telling me all he knew about Aali which surprisingly wasn't much since he kept his face and body covered in those baggy robes and never exposed himself to any of his men. Along with this, his weapon of choice was the whip that he's incredibly skilled with and often uses it to both disarm and strangle his victims and punish his men who anger him in some way. As for the living sand twisters, they'd just began turning these ancient ruins into their new base when he'd come across a secret passageway and when he came back up, he'd claimed an ancient artifact that allowed him to summon and control them at will. It was because of this that they were able to triple the amount of loot they were able to steal since it made their attacks go a lot faster and they were then able to move onto finding their next victims. After that, I threw him into a cell and left my shadow, leaving the bandit in the cell and Toothless in the upper floor since I didn't want to be noticed and a big dragon like him is too noticeable for now.
Presently, I was making my way down a hall while using my ninja skills to hide from any passing guards I encountered since for all I knew, them going missing could put the other bandits on guard when they don't show up for something. I wanted to get Aamin out of his cell before I tried to take any of these thugs out since they might try to take him as a hostage to make me back off and I was not going to put his life at risk like that. It was then I was brought out of my thoughts by the sound of multiple footsteps, with multiple voices talking and knew a few thugs were coming but I was now in a narrow hall way, with no shadows that were big enough for me to use my shadow coats abilities to jump in. Thinking fast, I turned my left arm into its prosthetic form before releasing the blade and launching it up into the ceiling, stabbing the blade into it. As soon as I knew it had a good grip, I quickly had it pull me up and as soon as I got to the ceiling, I released my spiderpacks legs and stabbed them into it so I could press my whole body against it and make it harder to be seen. I watched as a group of four thugs walked by, laughing at something one said and let out a silent sigh of relief when they passed by before using my spiderpack to make my way across the ceiling since there was no telling how many more guards there were.
Half-an-hour later
I was still up against the ceiling since I had a run in with a few more guards and decided it best to remain on the ceiling to avoid being spotted by any of them. Now I was looking down at the entrance to the dungeon which had a single guard on either side of the door, both large and wielding long scimitars like my own scimitar. I knew I'd need to take them out first but couldn't do anything to them that would alert anyone who came by that there was something wrong and the guards either missing or lying unconscious on the wall would alert anyone something was up. I smiled while thanking the gods that I had something that would allow me to take the guards out, without alerting anyone that something was up since to them it would seem like the guards were still standing guard. This item was my blow pipe and with it were the darts that would leave the guards standing but completely paralyzed and with this in mind, I pulled them out and quickly launched a single dart at each guard, hitting them in the necks and saw their bodies tense up and freeze.
I smirked at the men before allowing myself to drop from the ceiling while extending my wings to slow my descent and pulled them back when I hit the ground. Knowing the guards weren't going to be any more problems I tossed a single bronze spider down and onto the side wall since it'd be faster than my jewelwigs and saw there were a total of eight guards lining the stairs. I smirked and tossed three more bronze spiders down the steps and used the eye of the dragon to view as they sunk their fangs into each one, injecting the speedstinger venom into them, making the guards freeze up as they were paralyzed. I made my way down the steps with a smile as I walked past the guards who just stared at me as I walked by, with their eyes moving to follow me but I could see the shock and fury in their eyes. It was then I reached the end of the stairs and found a hall with a door at the end and I knew on the other side were the cells that Aamin was being kept in from the jewelwig that was within it. It was also thanks to this I knew there were two guards on either side of the door inside and since they were talking, I couldn't paralyze one without the other getting suspicious.
I smiled as I looked down at my shadow eagle pendant as its black smoke formed out of it before I pressed my hands against the door, letting the smoke seep in through the cracks. I smirked at the image of the looks of terror, forming on their faces as I watched through the eyes of my jewelwig before they were covered by the smoke and then pulled through. I quickly extended my shadow and slowly released the guards from the smoke and let them sink in as they looked up at me in absolute terror but I just smirked at them. As soon as they were gone, I pushed the door open and made my way into the dungeon and silently closed the door behind me before I ran to the cell that held Aamin who was sitting down in the corner with his knees curled up, his arms resting on them and his head looking down. I smiled and asked.
"Why you looking so down brother?" I held back a chuckle as his head shot up so fast, I feared he might break his neck before he looked at me and smiled as he chuckled.
"I should've known you'd come to get me in less than a day." I chuckled and pulled out my red patterned bell and rang it near the lock, undoing its mechanism and unlocking the cells door.
"Come on, we've got to get out of here." He nodded before I pulled out a scimitar from my spiderpack and handed it to him as he reached me. "Just in case!"
He nodded before we began making our way up the steps with me picking up my jewelwig and pulling the guards into my shadow as we passed them since with Aamin freed and armed, they wouldn't be able to take him as a hostage so easily. When we reached the stairs, I pushed the door open and my eyes widened since standing there were a group of ten guards armed with spears with the ends pointed at us. I sighed and said
"Guess someone realized something was up." Aamin nodded as I slowly extended my shadow beneath the men. "Well, a rescue's no fun without a bit of fighting to make things a little more challenging." I then smirked. "Then again you men won't be much of a challenge." I could see them all glare at me and prepare to charge but I released my shadows bindings first, catching their attention as they began to struggle as the bindings gagged them and restrained their arms while pulling them into my shadow.
"Hiccup, I love you like a brother but there are times when you truly scare me." I chuckled at Aamins words as I turned to him.
"To be honest with you, there are times when I scare myself." I then turned back to the hall. "We better keep moving before more guards show up."
He nodded and we rushed down the hall as I released my rhino helmet for protection against any oncoming enemies who I'd have to charge through. This proved to be the right choice when a large stone wall fell from the roof a few feet away from us, but I just smirked at the sight before lowering my head and allowed the charging rhino to form around my body. I slammed into the wall blocking our way, smashing right through it before coming to a stop and turning back to Aamin who climbed through the hole while staring at me in shock. I just gave him a look that clearly said 'we'd talk about this all later' before turning around and continuing to run down the hall with him following close behind me, scimitar in hand which was good since I had the feeling he'd need it.
Half-an-hour later
It's been half an hour since I smashed through the wall that came down to block our way and since then we've been running into guards and traps nonstop. It was easy to tell that the cells in my coats shadow were almost completely filled up since there were so many bandits roaming around the place which showed how powerful Aali was. I didn't let it bother me though since I still had to break me and Aamin out of this place and at the very least bring as many of Aali's men back with me as I could to at least put a dent in his forces. Now me and Aamin were on the back of Toothless who was flying us at full speed towards the exit to the temple but before we could reach it the doors shut. Toothless quickly came to a stop and hover before coming to land in front of the doors as the sound of slow clapping filled the chamber and we turned to see none other than Aali walking towards us, covered in head to toe with baggy black desert wear as he said.
"Bravo, you almost got out, but I figured you'd both understand that nobody escapes from me." He raised his hands and multiple armed men came out from behind the pillars, surrounding us and knowing it would be a tough fight, I subtly took out multiple clear Loki balls and filled them with my knockout gas. "Now why don't you save us some trouble and drop your weapons and come along peacefully." I smirked.
"How's about you and your men enjoy a little rest instead."
I could see Aamin smirk as he covered his nose and mouth while the bandits looked at me in confusion before I threw the balls, scattering them all overthe room and into the crowds and smirked as they burst, releasing thick clouds of the gas. I chuckled as the sound of coughs and screams to hold breath echoed throughout the chamber until a strong gust of wind dispersed the gas exposing the bodies of the men with most being out cold but a few still standing. I looked towards the source of the wind and saw Aali standing there with two sand twisters at her sides that had gotten rid of the gas before he ordered.
"Get them!" The remaining men charged at us and I knew we needed to fight so I pulled out my star sword, turned my prosthetic into its dragon claw form and charged at the men with Toothless and Aamin at my sides.
Nobodies POV:
Hiccup slammed into the nearest opponent with his ox flame boots speed mode being active, throwing the figure back a good five feet into a stone pillar. Hiccup then quickly swept his coat to the side, creating the dome of nine tails that absorbed multiple arrows that had been launched at him from multiple archers who were hiding on a ledge that was built into the upper wall. He knew that he needed to deal with those archers fast and released his sentient metal tail and had it separate into joints before going at the archers who were readying their next arrows. The bladed end joint immediately flew past them striking their bow strings, severing them while shocking the archers right before the other six joints struck them in their backs, knocking them off the ledge and taking them out of the fight.
Hiccups didn't notice though as he was too busy dealing with other thugs and had just tossed another one of them into one of his charging comrades. Of course, Hiccup wasn't the only one putting up a fight against the bandits as Aamin was putting just as much effort into taking down his own opponents who were focusing on him. Presently, Aamin had his scimitar forced against the blade of another scimitar that was being wielded by another bandit who was doing his best to overpower the prince but neither was giving in to the other. Aamin, knew that if he didn't do something fast then one of the other bandits would take this opportunity to take him down from behind and it was then he remembered a move Hiccup taught during his last visit to Arabia. He quickly fell back with his knees pulled in just as the bandit stumbled forward before Aamin slammed his feet into the bandit's gut, hooking him with them before throwing him over his head and into a bandit who was charging at Toothless who was busy knocking back various bandits with his tail while in his mystic armor.
With Toothless' fire power mixed with Hiccup and Aamins combat skills, the bandits weren't able to stand a chance which was something Aali had noticed and was not happy about it but knew it better to allow the bandits to tire the three out and just stood there watching. Aali was then forced to step to the side, avoiding a bandit who was screaming as a large flaming bull, dragged him past after Hiccup slammed his foot into his gut, creating the flaming bull that burst from his back and dragged him away. Aali nodded in amazement at the power of Hiccups boots and gasped when his sword shattered into floating shards that then turned into full sized blades that launched at a group of archers who dropped their bows in favor of tuck and rolling out of the way. Aali then gasped as Hiccup swung his arm behind him at a group of bandits who were charging at Toothless and gasped when the arrows that he'd blocked with the nine tails were thrown out and nailed each bandit in the leg, making them collapse and scream in pain. This didn't bother Aali though as it only strengthened the desire burning within his heart to possess the powers Hiccup was using against the bandits.
The battle continued for another five minutes before all the bandits were laying on the ground immobilized or unconscious but there were a few who were pinned to the wall with their own weapons or webs from Hiccups spiderpack. Now Hiccup, Toothless and Aamin were standing around Aali ready to take the leader of the group down but Aali had a stance showing nothing other than calm and relaxation. To the men though, it was as if the leader of the bandits was insulting them by claiming they weren't any threat to him whatsoever despite the fact that they'd defeated all his followers. It was then Aamin finally broke the silence and pointed the scimitar he wielded at Aali and said.
"Your forces are defeated and you stand no chance against all three of us so surrender now as I'd much prefer that you be brought in alive to pay for your crimes." Aali chuckled.
"Not yet, if I'm out of men then I shall simply need to make more but first, I'd say you've both earned the right to see who I am."
Aali grabbed the front of the robes covering his body and threw them aside, exposing what was beneath and everyone who saw Aali for the first time froze in shock since he had just exposed himself to be not a man but a woman. This woman had waist length hair that was tied up in a ponytail, a lovely face and wearing a black belly dancer top with matching pantaloons and elbow length gloves made of leather and on her hip was a rolled black leather whip. What caught their attention the most though was the golden crown that was wrapped around her head with the most eye-catching item being the sun stone that seemed to glow with untold power. It was then they were brought out of their shock when Aali chuckled and said.
"Surprised?" She then turned to Hiccup. "I see you like my crown and to be honest I can't blame you as it has a very handy ability." She raised her hands and the wind began to pick up. "Allow me to demonstrate!" She raised her hands and at both her sides and behind her, three sand twisters with holes in them that looked like faces formed. "CAPTURE THE TWO MEN BUT KILL THE BEAST!"
As soon as the words left her mouth the sand twisters launched themselves at the opponent that they were closest to and ten seconds later, all three men were thrown into the same wall, rounding them up and surrounding them. Hiccup growled and shattered his star sword before the shards once again turned into full sized blades and launched at the sand twisters but the blades just passed through them. Hiccup growled once more and stood up, preparing for a fight since he needed to figure out a way to beat this foe and if he couldn't then he was going to die in such a way, he was going to die on his own two feet as a warrior who died trying to protect the dragon who helped him get everything he has today and the prince who he thinks of as a brother. Aamin looked at Hiccup and knew why he was doing this and knew he needed to figure out a way to help Hiccup before he noticed one of the downed bandits that lay next to a clay water pot full of alcohol. Realization struck him and he quickly rushed up to it and picked it up before rushing up to Hiccup and threw it at the ground in front of the sand twister before he rushed over to a pillar that had a lit torch on it and grabbed it before throwing it onto the wine, igniting it. The twister pulled in the flames, quickly raising them around its form before they completely engulfed the twister and then the twister stopped, revealing it to have become glass. Hiccup turned to him and said.
"Aamin, you're a genius."
He just smiled at him as Hiccup used his coat to ignite his body before using his prosthetics ability to control the flames and create two steady flames at the sand twisters, quickly engulfing them. Aali, growled and summoned more before Hiccup and Aamin continued to fight the twisters using flames with Hiccup using his ignited form and flame control while Aamin used another jug of flammable liquid by putting the liquid into his mouth and then spitting it into the flames of a torch he held and Toothless hitting them with long streams of plasma. They took out nine more of the living sand twisters before Aamin ran out of the flammable liquid and decided it was time to end this battle and he knew there was only one way and that was to take Aali down.
He picked up his scimitar and rushed past the living sand twisters and up towards Aali who spotted him coming and was quick to unfurl her whip and readied it for battle. The moment Aamin was in range she cracked it at him, aiming for his arm that wielded the scimitar but he dodged it and continued running at her as she pulled out a dagger. Seeing he was close enough she lunged at him, swiping her dagger at his neck but he stepped to the side, dodging the strike before he slammed the pommel of his sword into her side making her stumble away a bit. She quickly swiped her whip at him and this time Aamin wasn't able to dodge it, with the whip wrapping around the wrist that wielded the scimitar, right before she yanked him towards her. When he was close, she stabbed her dagger forward to stab him but Aamin quickly raised his scimitar blocking the dagger, stopping it from reaching his body before he delivered a hard kick to her stomach, sending her back while Aamin undid the whip from his wrist. Aamin didn't give her a chance to recover and launched himself at Aali, tackling her to the ground, knocking the dagger out of her hand and then quickly grabbing the crown and ripping it off her head before turning to Toothless and yelling out.
"TOOTHLESS, PLASMA BLAST!"
Toothless turned to him as he tossed the crown into the air and Toothless immediately launched a charged-up plasma blast, right at the crown. The blast struck the crown that didn't explode but instead surrounded it, forming a bubble around it while the crown vibrated within it until the jewel shattered, releasing a massive shockwave that threw everyone back while also destroying the living sand twisters. When the dust caused by the shockwave finally settled it exposed sand covering everything, including all those who were in the cavern and in the center was the crown that just lay in the sand. Hiccup and Aamin groaned as they slowly got up while Toothless stood up and shook the sand off his body and looked around for Hiccup and Aamin. When his eyes landed on Hiccup, he immediately ran over to his rider and helped him up making Hiccup smile and rub the dragons head as he said.
"Thanks bud." He then turned to Aamin and asked. "You alright Aamin?" Aamin slowly stood up and chuckled while brushing the sand out of his hair.
"I'm fine but what happened?"
"My best guess is all the magic within the gem was released, causing that huge shockwave that threw us back." He nodded.
"But what about Aali?" They both immediately looked around until their eyes landed on her unconscious form against a large stone pillar but Hiccup didn't take a chance and extended his shadow towards her and pulled her into it.
"She's not going anywhere." He smiled and nodded. "Now let's gather up the remaining bandits and their equipment and treasure since there's no use leaving it all here for others to claim." Aamin sighed.
"Why do I get the feeling that we're going to be late for dinner?" Hiccup chuckled.
"Probably because we aren't going to make it back in time for dinner but the sooner we get back the better so let's get to work." He nodded and they got to work on gathering up the unconscious bandits with their equipment.
Nightfall
Hiccups POV:
I walked into my room and immediately began stripping off my gear as I walked to the bed but who could blame me since my entire day had been one battle after the next since me and Aamin had to search the entire temple for anymore of Aali's men. In addition to them trying to get the jump on us using hidden passages, we also had to deal with numerous booby traps that I had to use my mystic bell to disarm. To make things even more complicated, I ran out of room in the cells within my coat so I had to tie half of them up and put them in the level where I normally kept livestock or hostages. Then comes the treasury where they kept all their ill-gotten gains which was actually able to rival the treasury of the sultan so we had to spend over an hour loading it up into my spider pack so we could take it back to the palace but I also loaded up the glass sand twisters as souvenirs along with the crown. Then came the long trip back to the palace which didn't take even a quarter of the time it took to deal with the prisoners since we had to help transport each of them into a cell after removing any hidden weapons that they had. Along with this we had to drop off all the confiscated weapons in the armory for inspection to see what could be used along with all the treasure in the treasury's side storage to see what could be returned to the owners and what could be kept. We were then forced to spend another two hours assuring the sultan that we were both fine and then showing him and the night guards what the battle was like although we did have to repeat some parts when the sultan fell asleep.
Now after all that I was completely wiped out and ready to sleep but who could blame me since it was already early morning meaning my wives and kids were already in bed asleep. I paused when I reached the bed and saw each of my wives in their sleeping attire and could easily tell they were each deep in the realm of dreams so I knew I had to do my best not to disturb them. I stealthily made my way into bed, doing my best not to make it move too much and wake them up since they could all be pretty cranky when they wake up from a sound sleep, especially Astrid but then again, all cats didn't like their sleep disturbed. By some miracle, I was able to make it into the bed without bothering any of them and take my usual spot in the middle of them and I'm guessing by instinct, Blanca took her regular spot on top of me while the others snuggled into me. I took a breath and allowed myself to drift into the realm of sleep and considering all the work I'd done and how late it was, I was asleep the second my eyes closed.
AN: And that brings an end to this chapter and yeah, I know it's late but in addition to spending time with my new niece it's been a long time since I did a world travelling chapter so I needed to get into the groove of it but it'll still take time to get used to it again. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and will review kindly and if you think Hiccups time in Arabia ends with this then think again as he's got more headaches coming. Till then have a nice day and review kindly.
