RECAP: Kiara convinces Hiccup to embark on a 2-dragon, 2-rider stealth mission to retrieve the dragon-eye. It succeeds, then goes horribly wrong. Their cover gets blown and their dragons get captured, leaving them stranded and hiding on the hunter's base island. Viggo, aware of the enormous threat the riders pose to his empire, decides to permanently end the dragon rider problem. With the odds stacked against them, and the cover of darkness quickly running out, Hiccup and Kiara plan a last-ditch attempt to free their dragons and flee with their lives.
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At first glance, there appeared to be nothing bizarre about the bush. It was large, dense and huddled against a tree, like many other bushes around it. Any hunters that walked past barely gave it a glance. But had they inspected it more closely, they would have spotted that the bush was uprooted, or see it breathe subtly with the movements of those crouched within.
The riders were tense as they peeked at the men they could see between the trees. Clusters of them were loosely scattered around the place. For most, rather than their forms, the light given off by their torches gave their positions away. The few close enough to see were having mumbled conversations. One of them yawned, the late (or rather early) hour getting to him. For now, no one looked their way. "We're clear," Hiccup whispered. "Next tree over?"
"Sure," said Kiara. Staying crouched throughout, they padded towards the tree. Kiara gasped as Hiccup's prosthetic dug into her toe. He jerked away with a whispered apology. After more rustling than either of them was comfortable with, they made it.
They had moved a grand distance of three metres.
"I want my Robbie," Kiara whimpered.
"Yeah, a changewing would have been more than handy," Hiccup whispered. An idea hit him. "Get Robbie then."
"I thought we were past giving each other crazy ideas that won't work," she replied. "You know my telepathic range can barely cross 3 miles. Plus, it would be daytime by the time he got here."
"With where we're at, anything's worth a try."
Kiara huffed but listened to him anyway. She closed her eyes and focussed. "Are you there?" She projected the thought as far as her mind would allow. She was met with nothing. "We need you," she tried again, pushing further and further. Stabbing pain appeared behind her eyebrow. She groaned.
Suddenly, Hiccup's hand was on her mouth. Someone was coming. Kiara peered between the leaves and saw a man striding directly toward them. She went rigid with panic. They couldn't be found now. They were too close and there were too many of them around. If they're seen now, it's over. It's over.
More distressed than ever, she squeezed her eyes shut and sent her desperate thoughts barrelling outward. Her head erupted with pain. "We need you now!" Then she felt it. It was as faint as the touch of a falling petal but it was there. He was there. He was... closer than expected?
"Where on mother earth are you?" Robbie shouted back but it reached Kiara as a quiet breath. Her heart leapt with joy, then dropped like dead weight as the hunter's shadow fell over them. She mentally scrambled for the strength to reply to Robbie but was interrupted by the sound of water. A narrow stream of water. She scrunched her nose as the stench of urine filled the air.
Ewwww!
When the hunter was done with his business, he adjusted his belt, turned and walked away, leaving the riders speechless.
Kiara interrupted the silence with an airy, relieved chuckle, "He just had to pick this bush, huh?"
Hiccup broke out of his stupor and his lips curled down in disgust. "If we get home," he grumbled, attempting to wipe his metal leg on the dirt, "I'm throwing this into the ocean and it's staying there."
-
At hearing Kiara's voice, Robbie was so befuddled that he stopped flying and swivelled his head around. The black ocean stretched out everywhere he looked, there were no islands in sight, yet he had undoubtedly heard her. "Where on mother earth are you?" he exclaimed. He then looked down and his eyes widened. Could she be in the ocean? When her reply wasn't immediate, his thoughts went to the worst. Was she losing consciousness? Drowning? With a fervorous burst of speed, he continued after the scent trail he had been following before her voice reached him: the scent of her, Whiplash, Hiccup and Toothless.
"Please don't drown!" he wailed. "I can't do CPR!"
"I'm not drowning." Kiara's voice finally found him, bringing a bit of relief-"I'm hiding...at the hunter's HQ."-then instant panic.
"You're WHAT?" Robbie squawked. "You are so dead! And not because I won't rescue you. I will rescue you and then I'm gonna kill you. How could you even-?" He cut himself off as he suddenly felt the absence of his other friend. "Where's Whiplash?!"
Kiara was reluctant to reply. "Captured... and Toothless too."
The news hit Robbie like a fireball. He fluttered to a standstill, blinking rapidly as he tried to process the horrific situation. It was hard enough getting out of an auction, but now Hunter HQ?
"Robbie? I know it's bad and I'm sorry but we, well...we have this plan to get them out and it might not work so can you be our plan B? Robbie? Are you... are you there?"
Robbie shook his head, forcing down his worry before replying.
"Kiara," he said. "If I'm plan B, then B stands for the Best thing there is, right?"
"And here I thought it meant buffoon..." There was both laughter and a hint of relief in her words.
"Good thing I corrected you then." He smirked. "Now, what's the plan?"
-
After relaying everything from Hiccup to Robbie, Kiara opened her eyes and gave Hiccup a nod. "He knows what to do," she told him.
The riders continued on, moving towards their dragons at a snail's pace. As they grew close, they found that the loosely clustered patrolling hunters were replaced by upright guards, stationed at regular intervals. The riders didn't dare to whisper and found it increasingly difficult to move forward as they became more and more surrounded.
Kiara felt a chill across the back of her neck as she saw a hunter turn to face them. He was too far to make out his face, but his gaze was undoubtedly on their bush. Had he noticed that it wasn't there before? Worried, she glanced at Hiccup and saw that his eyes were on that man too.
Eventually, the man looked away. Shaken, the riders waited a moment before inching forwards again. It was the final stretch. Not much further now.
The scrape of a sword being unsheathed pierced the air. Kiara's head snapped towards the man who was watching them. He held up his sword, pointing in their direction. Her stomach dropped.
"We've been made," Hiccup hissed, "run!"
They burst from the bush and bolted, triggering an uproar all around them. They darted between hands trying to grab them and weapons set to cut them in half. In the frenzy, it took Kiara a moment to notice the trail of green gas Hiccup was leaving in his wake. He was emptying the zippleback canister on Inferno's hilt. "They have torches!" Kiara shrieked.
"Then brace yourself!"
Her mouth fell open. He was taking this 'think like the twins' thing a bit too far for her liking.
She glanced back a final time, taking in the hunters giving chase (ten? Thirteen? Too many!), then lunged forward and fixed her eyes ahead. The forest was thin, and the cliff was in sight, but a wall of men stood between them and it. Having emptied the gas, Hiccup held her by the arm, not letting her slow even as they approached the heavily armed blockade. Kiara held her staff at the ready as she realised he intended to barge through.
Behind them, someone's torch met the gas. With an earth-shattering boom, flames erupted, engulfing those chasing and sending the riders and the blockade of hunters flying.
Tuck and roll! Astrid's voice flitted through Kiara's mind. She hit the earth tumbling, and rolled to a stop. The grassy knolls did little to soften her pain but to her credit, nothing felt broken. Nothing felt right either. For a moment, she stayed on her back looking up at the speckled sky as she felt the ocean breeze mingle with the explosion's heat, then Hiccup pushed himself off the ground beside her.
She snapped to her senses and forced her aching body up; they had a plan to uphold. Her gaze swept over the area: hunters littered the large clearing around her, either sprawled or moaning as they unsteadily got to their feet; and just ahead, closer to the cliff, Viggo's guard of 20 stood in front of two netted dragons.
Kiara snatched up the dragon-eye and Hiccup brandished inferno, holding it ready to strike the priceless heirloom. With the glowing hot blade, slicing a tree had been easy, so destroying Viggo's prize wouldn't be a problem at all. And that was leverage... or at least all that they had.
"No one comes closer," Hiccup shouted, "or we'll destroy the dragon-eye!" The hunters hesitated, all several meters away. "Don't doubt the damage of a red-hot gronckle-iron sword," Hiccup warned when a few edged forward. Clutching the dragon-eye by its ends, Kiara tried her best not to shake all over, but Hiccup's threat appeared meek in front of the battalion of burly, metal-wielding Vikings facing them. Even as he spoke, more came rushing from the burning woods, like a starved colony of ants to breadcrumbs, and surrounded them in a wide circle. They brought with them the smell of singed hair and freshly burnt skin. There had to be a hundred now, making Robbie's hidden presence mean next to nothing. At least Hiccup's words kept them at a distance, and no one raised a crossbow since a missed shot would certainly hit one of their own.
Briefly, Kiara's gaze locked with Whiplash's and she saw the dragon's eyes, wide with fright just like hers. The Grimborn brothers stood between Whiplash and Toothless.
"Hand over our dragons, or we'll destroy the dragon-eye," Hiccup shouted again. "Let the four of us go, and the dragon-eye is safely yours. You have my word."
Viggo walked forward with an easy smile gracing his face. "The dragon-eye is already mine," he said. "Look around you, Hiccup." He gestured to his army with a wide sweep of his arm. "It's over. You've lost as I always knew you would. And while it has been fun, I won't be letting you go free this time."
Hiccup's mouth twitched downwards at the reference to the flightmare debacle.
"I have no choice on the matter," Viggo said apologetically, "not with both your priceless dragons in my grasp. You, however, have one final crucial choice to make."
"My choice is clear," Hiccup cut in. "I will destroy it unless you let us go."
"Hiccup Haddock the third," Viggo tutted. His tone may have been mistaken for good-natured sympathy to anyone who didn't know better. "Don't make things harder for yourself..." his gaze passed over Kiara for a moment before settling on Hiccup again, "for Kiara." Abruptly his voice grew cold and his eyes hardened. "Lower. Your. Sword."
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Heyyy Dragon Lovers!
AND (more than a year later) SHE's BACK!! ME is BACK! For those of you who stuck around, who are still sticking around, and who've read this chapter, I have no words... except... YOU INCREDIBLE HUMAN BEINGS I LOVE YOU AND I'M SORRY FOR GOING AWOL! but I have to finish this book and I'd LOVE to finish this book so I'm back. I don't even care if it takes so long that my whole readership is 6 ft under -- I will see this through! ;D
Til next time,
Tan <3