Lost and Found: Family

The Bloody Barbarians

Darius walked to a large trap door in the side of a hill. Using his noticeably large biceps, he heaved the door up and jumped through the hole.

They heard a crash and he appeared again, carrying a triangular shield and a sword. He shut the door, and ran around the house.

Hanna motioned for him to follow her, and they moved from the safety of the trees. Inching around the side of the building, they soon caught sight of Darius and three other dark haired boys his age.

One was short and stout, another tall and lanky, but not as tall as Darius, and the last one was shorter, but not as short as the first one, and muscular. They were talking, and Hiccup could just about pick up what they were saying.

"Yup, I'm going camping in Darkforest Woods with my father," the short boy said.

"Really? And what does Ciscus have to say about this?" Darius asked as the boys began walking.

"She doesn't know," the tall boy told him.

"And she's not going to find out," the stout one said, "if she did, she'd sneak into my tent at night and pummel me for not bringing her."

"And why don't you?"

The boys continued talking, but were too far away for Hiccup to hear.

"Come on, I know a back way to where they're going," Hanna told him. He followed her back into the woods and they jogged between trees. Finally, she led him out of the woods to a giant metal dome in the ground.

She slinked around the back of the odd building and lifted a small, loose metal panel on the dome. Hiccup peered in. There he saw two dragons, a Gronkle and Deadly Nadder, the four dark haired boys, two dark haired girls, and a rather buff looking guy, with a very deep voice.

"Ciscus, watch your back!" Hiccup heard the stout boy call out as the Gronkle chased him.

"Watch your own back, Hilous! I've got mine!" The girl threw a dagger at the Nadder, but the dragon simply deflected it with its tail. Without further ado, it spiked it's tail, and Hiccup heard the familiar sound of Nadder spikes slicing through the air. Ciscus nimbly dodged them and ran across the arena.

"HIDE IN THE BLIND SPOT!" The buff man bellowed. "THEY CAN'T SEE YOU THERE!"

"Really? Who would of thought?" Hiccup mumbled.

"NOPE! DARDENELLE, THAT'S NOT GOING TO WORK!"

"I figured that out, Feutol!" The other girl called across the room as magnesium fire shot over her head.

"WHO'S GONNA BE THE FIRST TODAY TO GET THEM BACK IN THEIR CHAMBERS?"

"It's gonna be me!" The tall boy said.

"Dream on, Gongult!" Darius exclaimed. Picking a bolt from someone's shield up off the ground, he threw it into a pocket in the wall. The Nadder shot after it and ran into the wall at the back of the pocket. With a cry of surprise, it fell down into the pit at the bottom of the dip in the wall. A large metal door descended down, blocking the Nadder from getting back up.

Hiccup heard Hanna sigh beside him. She had her head propped up on her fist and looked like she was in a daydream.

"THAT'S ONE DOWN, ONE TO GO!"

"I've got this," Ciscus popped her neck and cracked her knuckles. "Step back, boys. Wouldn't want you to wet yourself."

"NOW, CISCUS, SAVE THE KILLING FOR ANOTHER DAY, WE JUST WANT THEM BACK IN THEIR CHAMBERS!"

"Fine, don't get your sword in a twist," she said. She stood her ground as the Gronkle rushed towards her. Then, when it was just a foot away from sending her on a one way trip to Valhalla, she shot her fist out quicker than lightning. It made contact with the dragon's snout, and it fell limp.

"GREAT JOB TODAY, EVERYONE!" Feutol yelled as he pushed the Gronkle to the entrance of it's chamber. It fell into the pit and landed at the bottom with a thump. The metal door descended, and he continued, "DON'T FORGET TO GO TO THE LIBRARY TO STUDY UP FOR TOMORROW'S TEST ON DRAGON WEAKNESSES!"

"Library? Study? Test? Are these guys even Vikings?" Hiccup asked, "I mean, it sounds great, but really?"

"Don't ask me, I can't even understand them," Hanna said as she closed the panel, "but isn't Darius just so handsome and brave?"

"Yeah, sure. Can we go back to our dragons now?"

"I suppose, this is usually about the time I leave..."

"Great!" Hiccup took off into the trees. "You know, other than you drooling over Darius, it was actually quite interesting. They do things very differently here than on Berk. And their arena and storage is so much more advanced. Building into the ground? Now that's interesting!"

Hanna raised her eyebrow. "Interesting? Pfffft, yeah right. Talk about boring! We live in a giant, ice-covered ROCK!"

"That's different."

"Whatever."