Chapter Thirteen
"Into the great beyond." Everyone was mumbling under their breaths as they continued flying high in the clouds. Their flight was moving into its sixth hour and the sun was practically a thin stip of orange string along the horizon.
"We should be making camp soon." Niki called out to the others, leaning over Shockwave's back to scout the ground. "This should do."
The Dragon Riders didn't even have the energy to argue, or evaluate the location themselves. They simply landed their dragons in the forest and dismounted to stretch and lay down. "These trees are enormous." Fishlegs admired their enormous size from laying on his back. "They must be the size of a hut!"
"We're about three hours from the capitol." Niki said, laying out her bedroll and groaning loudly as she gave her body a full stretch. "Here in Leirven, you can track your location by the size of the trees. The trees in Leirven's capitol are so large, the entire city is built on them. Right here though, you'll only find a few houses that are built into the trees. Most of the elves that live this far out of the capitol are farmers, and need to be close to the ground."
"Will we be able to see the capitol?" Hiccup asked, but was greatly disappointed when his sister shook her head.
"That will cause too much commotion. It's even too dangerous to be camping here, but trust me, running this way all night is no fun task."
"You've done that before?'' The Twins' energy seemed to shoot up immediately, and they quickly moved their bedrolls right next to hers, to hear the story in full glory.
Niki gave a half smile, and turned her head towards the road they had been following. "Yeah. My father often traveled to the different Elven Tribes so I was able to come along. One of my friends' father was head of the Guard of Ling. He trained us ruthlessly, so whenever we traveled, he challenged us to run the whole way. We always made it to Daventia with no trouble, but the others were too far. We were very close though. Kaeyltyn, that was her name, and I would wake up hours before the crack of dawn and start running, only stopping to wait for the crowd to catch up, so we could get some food and quench our thirst."
"That hardly sounds safe." Heather questioned. "How old were you?"
She shrugged, digging in her saddlebag to tear off a piece of bread. "Thirteen? Don't worry. You know what my father would tell people who questioned it? 'There's a difference between an assassin running free through the woods, than an unguarded royal.'"
Snotlout was gnawing through a tough steak when he paused. "I don't get it."
Mala chuckled, shaking her head. "It means that Nikolai and her friends were trained as assassins since they were born. Every Rogue Moon child is."
"At thirteen we can take down a fully grown Careless Breath." Nikolai proudly added.
"Even if they were to come into any trouble, they could handle themselves. On the other hand, the rest of the elven children are practically like ours. Minimal training, which eventually ends up useless in a dangerous situation." Mala completed, then asked Astrid and Heather to build a fire.
"Are you saying our kid can't fight?" Dagur mocked.
"Against Nikolai, no." she laughed, then kissed his cheek.
"Well, if Niki isn't going to tell us a story, why doesn't someone else?" Ruffnut asked the group. No one at first was keen to volunteer, but Snotlout raised his hand after a few moments. "Oh, um, not you Snotlout."
"Hey!" he yelled. "I want you two to tell us how you got with these guys without us knowing."
"Oh." Tuffnut faked flattery on his face. "Well thank you for volunteering us. I accept your nomination. Ruffnut, where shall we begin?"
Ruffnut rubbed her chin, pondering through the story that started years ago. "Well it started around nine years ago." she said.
Hiccup suddenly shot up from his sleeping pad, which was laid right next to Astrid's. "Nine! It was five."
"That's what we told you." Ruff snickered. "We knew you'd be even more angry at us if we said Niki had known us since a few months after you left."
Hiccup stared at Niki who simply said, "Just listen to the story brother."
"Oh I would like to hear that story as well!" Fishlegs interrupted the Twins right as they started to speak.
"Hey! Are we telling the story, or not?" Ruffnut yelled and he quickly shut his mouth, nodding for them to continue. "Thank you." she relaxed against Barf and Belch's stomach. "Alright nine years ago..."
* * * * * *
"Are you sure we are on the right trail?" Ruffnut asked her twin as she climbed over a fallen tree. They were wandering throughout the forests behind Berk, following a simple, yet expertitly detailed map.
"Um...well I stopped being sure about an hour ago." Tuffnut's muffled voice caught her attention, and she dropped to her knees to find his wedged between the soft grass and the trunk. "Tried to crawl under it." he quickly explained and handed her the map to free his hands.
She grabbed it, brushing off the dirt and speckles of moss that was on it. "Well this is clearly the tree marked, and just over there is the huge boulder."
"See, whatta I tell you?" Tuffnut grunted trying to squeeze himself further under the trunk.
"Yeah, so we shouldn't be far." she took turns looking down at the map, and around their surroundings.
"RUFFNUT!" he suddenly screamed. "THERE'S A SPIDER! GET ME OUT OF HERE!"
* * * * * *
"Hold on, I thought you liked spiders." Astrid interrupted.
Tuffnut shrugged. "They are cool from afar, but not when you're stuck underneath a tree and you're staring into its six glowing eyes."
Hiccup looked unconvinced that this story was actually real. "So explain the spider you brought to the Edge?"
"Oh that was me." Ruffnut said. "I got it for Tuffnut so he could learn to appreciate spiders. Didn't work too well, since you know, Barf ate him later that night."
* * * * * *
Ruffnut dropped the map and ran over to her twin, tugging at his feet. "Hold on."
"HURRY UP!" Tuffnut panicked, making it difficult for her to hold onto his legs and pull him With his constant moving, and her pulling whenever she could get a good enough grip, pulled Tuffnut out in a few seconds.
"Next time go over the tree." she told him.
"RUN!" he yelled and effortlessly jumped over the tree.
"What-" Ruffnut looked at the hole and watched several spiders start to climb out and charge towards her. "Run Tuffnut!" she yelled, jumping over the trunk and running.
The two clambered through the grass, rocks, trees, and moss, escaping the herd of spiders running after them.
"What do we do?" Ruffnut yelled.
"I dunno!"
"What about climbing the trees?"
"Spiders can climb!"
"Oh righ-" the twins tumbled down a short cliffside and landed in the middle of a small pond. The water was muddy, and the bottom was covered in seaweed making it difficult to see even their hands. Ruffnut swam up to the surface and looked at the cliff to make sure no spiders were climbing down the walls. "That was terrifying." she said to herself and swam over to Tuffnut, who was spitting water out of his mouth and nose. Before she could reach him, her foot stepped on a thick, tail covered in scales.
Her blood ran dry and she nervously looked down at her feet, to attempt to see what she was stepping on. The tail moved, forcing her to do an underwater front flip, then slapped her back. "There's a monster in here Tuff!" she yelled again, starting to swim to the beach, but he held her back, pointing to the ledge of the cliff.
"Lake monster or savaging spiders?"
The spiders chasing them had formed a line around the cliff and were slowly advancing down to the ground.
"Did you just call me a monster?" They both jumped at the new voice, clambering to be the one who was behind the other. A head full of silver hair fading to an elegant blue, floated to the surface, only allowing her eyes above the water line. "For your information, I'm a mermaid." she raised her head just enough to speak before sinking back down to her eyes.
"Are you going to eat us?" Tuffnut asked, and her face of utter confusion answered his question. "Good, cause those are."
She followed his finger, and noticed the spiders. "Oh." she dove under the water and not even a few seconds later had jumped out and grabbed a large staff, splitting it into two knives. She curled her lips and rapidly whistled. "Take these." she said, grabbing the two knives at her hips and tossing them. The twins caught them and formed a mini circle, ready to face the cascade of spiders that fell down the cliff walls.
"Name's Niki." the woman shouted as she created a fan with her blades, slicing the spiders in half.
"I'm Ruffnut."
"Tuffnut!"
"What's the boy's name?"
"No, my name is Ruffnut! His is Tuffnut!"
The three kept fighting the waves of spiders, but their efforts seemed pointless, as more spiders kept flowing over the cliff.
* * * * * *
"Then when all hope was lost, Barf and Belch fly through the canyon and together with Niki's water powers, we decimated the spiders!"
"Okay there is no way that happened!" Snotlout cried.
"Hey! You wanted the story, we're giving it to you!"
Niki laughed. "Of course there may be a few fantastical details, but it makes the story much more entertaining." Snotlout however, did not look the least bit convinced.
"So afterwards." Tuffnut resumed the story. "Niki helped us train Barf and Belch, and for many years we remained undercover."
Ruffnut performed a sloppy summersalt while creeping around the trees. "Helping the Dragon Riders through the shadows."
"Define, helping through the shadows." Fishlegs asked, half amused.
Ruffnut dropped her act and shrugged her shoulders. "It just means we saved their dragon hides whenever they were in trouble."
Fishlegs looked at Hiccup. "And you didn't know?"
"No." he muttered and shook his head in such a minimal motion only a few noticed it. "Niki made sure they kept quiet, so I wouldn't get angry at them."
Suddenly Heather and Astrid burst out laughing. "And you were angry at them!" Heather clutched her stomach. "Remember when they dumped that net of fish-" she paused to catch her breath. "On top of you!"
"You smelled so bad!" Astrid laughed.
"Yeah, that was a complete mistake." Tuffnut raised his hands. "We thought only Niki was there, we thought it was her."
"How?" Hiccup asked, a hand clutching his forehead as he remembered how stupid the Twins could be.
"You are siblings." Ruffnut mentioned.
"We look nothing alike!" He cried.
The Twins looked at each other, then shrugged. "Oh well." Ruffnut shook it off. "He couldn't be too mad at us, because he needed a distraction."
"A distraction for what?" Fishlegs asked.
"Viggo was holding a dragon auction and the Dragon Riders were planning to attack, but needed someone to distract them. Everyone in the group had been captured before so Niki volunteered us."
* * * * * *
"Okay, you cannot mess this up." Hiccup stressed once again to the Twins. They were standing on the edge of the docks, about to send them off towards Viggo's auction.
"Don't worry Hicky." Tuffnut rested a hand on his shoulder.
"H-Hicky?"
"We got this under control." Ruffnut assured him. "With our natural Berkian Aura they won't suspect a thing."
Hiccup still seemed extremely uncertain about the idea, but he forced himself to stay silent and accept the reality that the Twins were going to be the leading force of this mission. "Just....be careful."
"You got it." Both of the Twins gave them a thumbs up and watched as they flew off the ship and into the cover of clouds above.
"They are so stupid." Ruffnut chuckled. "Niki, you can come out now." It took a few moments, but Niki shot out of the water and performed a breathtaking flip before landing on the ship's deck.
"I think this is one of our best pranks yet." she exclaimed, flipping her braid over her shoulder.
"Who would've thought the day would come when Hiccup would see our talent in pranking could be of some use."
"For you it came." Niki corrected. "He still thinks if I came I would endanger the mission because I'm an elf." she mocked, sticking her tongue out at no particular object.
"Yeah. What does this Viggo guy know about you anyways?" Tuffnut laughed. "He's probably just as ignorant as the rest of the stupid Dragon Hunters are."
Niki laughed, but didn't verbally respond. "Did you pack the cloak?"
Ruffnut shrugged. "It's somewhere with the rest of the fake merchandise Heather made up."
Then Tuffnut suddenly held up a huge bag of money. "As well as all of this gold! Think how much we could buy with this!"
"You realize Mala wants that all back, right?" Niki asked them.
"Wait, wait, wait." he interrupted her. "What if we just bought all the dragons!"
"Um Tuffnut, we're supposed to be bankrupting Viggo, not giving him more money!" Ruffnut reminded her brother, who paused then agreed.
"Alright then, we shall steal all the dragons! Under the cover of darkness!"
"Nah, we get the more exciting job." Niki laughed. "We're the detectives who wreak havoc on everything." A mischievous look gleamed in her eyes as she unsheathed her knife and peered at it's shining blade.
When the boat pulled up to the docks, Niki crawled into a small compartment underneath the boat, while the Twins pulled on heavy cloaks of fur to represent their supposed status. "You look very chiefly." Ruffnut complemented her brother, who looked her over and agreed with her appearance.
"Onward we go!"
"Off to battle!"
The Twins marched up the stairs to the deck, when Tuffnut started humming a song. "Oh the Noble Duck of York."
"He had 10,000 warts."
A polite cough interrupted them. The Twins stopped and after giving a quick glare of annoyance at them, looked at their greeter. "My humblest apologies for interrupting your tune." Viggo's voice was uncomfortably stiff yet his voice was the redeemable quality to not let his audience slip away. "My name is Viggo Grimborn. Who may you be?"
Tuffnut stooped to a low bow, that Viggo had a difficult time determining if it was meant as mockery or stupidity. "I am Sir Tuffnut, and my sister, Ruffnut-"
Ruffnut jabbed him in the ribs then stooped to an equally low bow. "Lady Ruffnut."
"And you are from?"
"The island of Berk." Tuffnut straightened up. "I suppose you would be familiar with us? We Berkians are superb dragon hunters."
"Your reputation precedes you." Viggo politely agreed then wandered around the ship, then down the stairs to the deck below. "But I recall Chief Stoick saying he did not need to buy dragons, when he could easily catch more than he needed for half the cost."
The Twins quickly followed him. "Well my friend, that's where the little secret comes in."
"Secret hm?"
"Oh yes." Tuffnut nodded and walked straight up to him. "Now this is a little top secret, so would you mind just keeping it under wraps? Chief is looking for a challenge, a unique dragon, if you say so. You see, he's been having some trouble getting this particular dragon, but he knew that old Viggo Grimborn would have just the selection he was looking for."
The emotions in Viggo's face barely changed. "Hm." he simply said. "And did Chief Stoick say what dragon he wanted?"
"Now that's where you stop hearing all this top secret stuff. Can't be letting too much slip away." he chuckled waving his hands around.
"So you don't know what type of dragon you need?"
"Oh we know. It's just you don't know."
"As your seller I think it is essential for both of us to know the name of this dragon you are seeking for."
"That's the problem." Ruffnut intervened. "We don't have the dragon's name."
"Then how do you-"
"He gave us a picture." Tuffnut answered.
It was now clear that Viggo's patience was beginning to run out. He clenched his fists and took a moment before saying, "Okay, then can I see the picture?"
"Nope. We ate it." There was a smug look on Ruffnut's face when she said it. "Chief told us not to show anyone the picture, so like the awesome crime fighters my bro and I are, we ate the evidence. So, I mean if you really needed that picture you could wait a few more hours, but honestly that's just wasting our time."
"Fine." Viggo sighed and marched up the stairs. The Twins shared a look of satisfaction and gave each other a high five right as Viggo came barreling down the stairs and slammed his foot into the boards.
"Woah, chill out! Private property rights!" Ruffnut yelled, shoving Viggo aside. He peered inside the hole then walked off of the ship without another word. "Rude." she shook her head.
"Tell me about it." Niki popped her head out of the newly formed hole, then jumped out. "Ready to go?"
"You bet." Ruffnut tossed her the cloak, which she pulled over her head.
The three climbed up the ladder and met with the sun's rays. Dragon Hunters and bidders were conversing on the decks, comparing sacks of gold and theorizing the species of dragons available. Lining the path to the arena, were stands filled to the brim of the other merchant's stalls of goods from across the archipelago.
Niki grabbed the chest of false gold Heather had created, and hid it under her cloak. As they walked down the plank, she bent her head and knees to appear smaller than she actually was.
"Hey you three!"
"Uh, what is it this time?" Ruffnut complained. "Wouldn't it be nice if this security thing was just like a box? So you would like sail through it then be good? Cause I don't know about you, but I'm getting a little annoyed with all these questionnaires."
"I agree. Estoy de acuerdo."
The man was a head taller than the twins, and wore two copper swords strung to his back. "My brother told me there were only two of you on this ship, not three."
The Twins looked behind them, at Niki, who bowed her head further.
"Ah, that is our servadora." Tuffnut casually said, clapping his hands together. "You wouldn't expect us fine Berkians to carry our own gold now, would you?"
"We are much too sophisticated for that." Ruffnut straightened her helmet. "Come along servant girl. Off to the market we go!"
"Hold onna minute." Ryker grabbed Niki's arm. "What's your name girl?"
As Niki spoke, the Twins stared at her, wondering if Niki hadn't been captured or ran off, being replaced by some other foreign person. Her accent had changed from a fast paced rap to a chunky northern accent, yet thicker than any viking they knew.
"Ack girl is not aked question. Ack girl does not aknswer."
It took Ryker a moment to figure the accent out, but once he did he growled. "I asked you a question. What is your name?"
"Briksande m'lord."
He was taken aback and curiously released Niki. "M'lord? I've never heard a Viking use that phrase."
"Ak girl from England m'lord."
"England?" Ryker's suspicion was obviously growing, but the Twins jumped in.
"Alright! Alright!" Ruffnut shooed him away. "You know all these questions are going to drive your customers away! First the dock hand asks us, then that Viggo Grimborn, and now you! I have half a mind to leave this instant! Tuffnut?"
"I agree with my sister." he crossed his arms. "Your workers lack a certain level of cortesia that is essential to good business. I will be speaking to your boss about it, and if we are to do anymore um...negocio with you, we expect to be treated in a more dignified manner. Come Ruffnut." he turned on his heel and strutted off with the other closely following him.
The market's air was full of the smells of rich foods, and more jewels beyond what the Twins had seen in their entire lives.
"Oh look at those axes!" Ruffnut ran over to the weaponry stand, while Tuffnut peered carefully at the necklaces.
"Looking for a gift. Perhaps for a special lady?" the merchant came over to Tuffnut, and stood beside the more expensive jewels.
"Ah yes, you see my chicken and I are having our." he paused to count his fingers. "Third year anniversary, and you know I wanted to get her something special."
The merchant's pale nose wrinkled. "A chicken?"
"Si mi pollo. She is very special to me-"
"No business for chickens!" the merchant yelled and slammed their stall shut.
"Wow, these people are rude." he snapped his fingers. "My English servant is nicer than you!" he yelled at the crowds shaking his fist before walking through the crowds. He stopped at an old covered wagon, that had a single wooden door painted with extravagant markings. "What is that?" he asked.
"Fortune teller from akient lands."
"Is this another scam?"
Niki shook her head and pointed at the symbols. "Peoples from these lands are not liers. True they ark."
"Let's go and see then!"
"No, knowing forktune ak bad." she grabbed his arm, and started to lead him away when the wagon door opened and an old lady with golden braids down to the floor called out,
"Nikolai Daengrus?"
"Wow she's good, she even knew your name!" Tuffnut nodded at the old lady, impressed by her wisdom. "Let's check her out-" but Niki was nowhere to be seen. "Where did she go? Do you know?"
The old lady seemed to be in a trance as she stared at the forest. Under her breath she started muttering rapidly in a foreign language, that sounded similar to something Niki had spoken sometimes. He rushed over to his twin and pulled her away from the weaponry stand. "Honorary Nicknutt is gone!"
"Nicknutt is gone? I thought she was with you?"
"She was, then she vanished after that fortune teller lady said her name."
"Well we have to find her, she has our gold!" Ruffnut turned to the merchant at the weaponry stand. "Save this for me, I'll be back."
The Twins shoved their way through the crowd and looked around. "Maybe she had to use the facility?" Ruffnut asked.
"Or she was kidnapped!"
"Tuff, think. Niki. Kidnapped. Really?"
"Oh right. Let's check the forest."
They started to walk over to the forest, but a guard stepped in their way. "Excuse me." he asked. "Are you Mr. Tuffnut and Ms. Ruffnut from Berk?"
"Ms. Ruffnut, I like that." she muttered to herself. "Yup that's us."
"Follow me. Viggo wants to show you the dragons before the auction. Said you were looking for a special dragon."
"Ah yes. Lead the way." Tuffnut said. "Briksande can manage by herself for awhile." They followed the guard around the arena to the back, where a field of caged dragons stood ready for auction. In the center of the path, Viggo stood, admiring his work.
"Ah, Berkians, I'm so glad you could join me in my stroll through the goods."
"The pleasure is all mine. Literally, Ruffnut didn't want to come." She hit his helmet.
* * * * * *
"Where was Niki?" Heather interrupted, but quickly covered her mouth when she realized she had interrupted the Twins. "Sorry." she said.
"Actually no, we never did find out where Niki went." Ruffnut looked at Niki, who was lounging against a tree with her eyes closed. "Nicknutt!"
"Hm?" she mumbled, her eyes still closed.
"Where were you at the auction?"
"With you guys."
"No, afterwards!" Ruffnut yelled.
"Yeah," Tuffnut joined in. "When that witch lady called your name you ran off and we didn't see you until you saved us from the cage."
"I suddenly had to use the facility."
"Were you scared of the lady?" He asked her. "I mean she was talking like you sometimes do and she knew your name."
"Just continue with what happened with you guys. That's where all the action was." she waved it off, then dropped one hand from behind her head to rest on her thigh.
"Did you go back to see the lady?-"
Niki lunged forward and lodged a dagger into the tree right above Snotlout's head. "Hey!" he yelled, while a chicken squaked.
"Oh-kay." Tuffnut grabbed Chicken and shoved him back into the bag before anyone saw, then looked at his twin. "Sensitive subject, moving-"
"Quiet." Niki ordered. She walked to the middle of their circular camp, snapping her two knives into a long staff. The dragons' ears lifted, and the Dragon Riders reached for their weapons but she snapped her fingers to stop them.
Her eyes dulled and her skin started to fade away.
She swung around and brought her staff to connect with a silver katana. The person slammed into a tree, but jumped off and flipped over Niki. She jumped to meet the person and for a few moments their blades seemed to sing in perfect harmony, like a dancer performed for the Dragon Riders' leisure.
They both landed daintily on the front ends of their feet and connected their blades again. They danced so fast even the dragons could not keep up. All they saw was blurs flip around the fire and in the trees and heard the constant clashing of blades.
"Don't get involved." Mala warned the others, who knew they would only be sliced to pieces, or standing idiotically in the way.
Snotlout yelped when one of the blurred figures was thrown into the tree above him, and practically dug into the ground when ice spikes stabbed the bark and held the figure where they lay against the tree.
The Dragon Rider's eyes started to fucs again and saw Niki huffing and staring at the figure pinned to the tree. The person had hair longer than Niki's and twisted in so many braids they were almost dizzy. Her skin was pale and had stars with pointed knives at the end circling around her skin and face. But her face was hideous.
A bandana was wrapped tightly around her eyes, and soaked black right above the eye sockets. The black substance ran down her cheeks, where it had dried to a crusty filth.
"Wyryryie adytryie, wyry rysandra cryvyie pyrescana (I'll admit, I was not expecting that)." she chuckled. Niki's snow made a light break through the snow as she stepped forward. "Wyvri allayrv (You've improved)."
A smirk crawled onto Niki's face as she continued to walk towards the person. "Wyry ryki sy. Yhey dyokyry aloy byry. (I would hope so. It has been twenty years.)"
"Um, hey, sis?" Hiccup quietly spoke up. "Would you mind explaining?"
"Zeyretza?" the female repeated, then scowled at Niki. "Creseldek?"
Niki gave a curt nod. "A story for another time. He's good though. Now Starzt, what was that all about?"
'Let me down and I'll tell you."
"Not a chance."
She laughed again. "You've gotten really good. I followed you from Monrides, figured I'd see what your skills were before introducing myself."
"Monrides?"
"Yup." she shook her head gayly. "I'm their official errand boy. I traveled to the other human kingdoms to get supplies."
"Alright." Niki turned towards Astrid. "You wanna let her down."
"You think we can trust her? She just attacked you!"
"It was all in good spirits. We used to always greet each other this way." she explained. Astrid hesitantly looked at the others before melting the ice. The person skillfully avoided the sharp edges as she slipped to the ground, landing right on Snotlout's back.
"Hey! What is with all this-" he stopped and stared at the person's face. "Er...Astrid..."
She chuckled. "Watch it boy, I've got over 1,320 moon cycles on my life." then stood up and walked over to Niki. "It's been awhile, your-"
Niki quickly hugged the woman. "It's good to see you. You have no idea how much I've missed you. What happened after I left?"
"Woah, woah. Hold on Nikolai." Hiccup cautiously walked up to his sister. "Can we have a thorough explanation first?"
"Oh right. Guys, this is Kaeytlyn Starzt. She was the queen of Moonlire's personal guard. Our fathers were close, so naturally we bonded well."
"Me and another friend were traveling with her when she wanted to visit Monrides' princes. What happened to those guys anyways? You had a thing for the skinny nervous one, didn't you?"
The Twins snorted. "Viggo, skinny?"
"Nervous?"
They clutched each other for support while slowly dissolving into laughter.
"Yeah, I've seen him recently. Looked mighty handsome with your cloak on." Kaeytlyn teased.
"Shut up, I'd like to hear about your own romantic life."
"Haven't got one." she smugly replied. "No girls seem to be interested in an elf, so I've been living the single life."
"Nikolai." Hiccup reminded her to stay on track.
"Right." Kaeytlyn fished through her bag and pulled out some food. "I'll explain everything for you guys. Give me a chance to eat though, chasing dragons isn't easy, but not as bad as running from Incoreni." she winked at Nikolai.
When Kaeyltyn finished her meal, she wiped her hands on her pants, took a long gulp of water from her canteen, then settled down for the tale.
"When Niki had gone through the portal, I was fighting with Ryker Grimborn, you might know him."
"Oh we do." Heather replied.
"Lovely guy isn't he? Tell me, has he realized he was just being manipulated? It looks like your lover did, but did Ryker?"
Niki smirked back at her. "No, he's serving under another manipulator. Viggo finds it ironic."
"Serves him right, idiot. Anyways, he was pulled into the portal as well but he had alerted the entire castle of our presence. Temilan was knocked out, and I was completely drained of energy. I was captured with her, but managed to escape intending to come back for Temilan. I traveled to the border of Kalirie and was introduced to Calisa Grimborn, who was traveling on political business. That's when the curse hit. She was about to cut out my eyes, but I was able to convince her that I needed them to provide her people with food."
"Wait so why are you wearing that over your eyes?" Dagur questioned, more interested in seeing what remained of her eyes.
Kaeytlyn seemed to share an interest in Dagur's affection towards the gruesome, but when she pulled off the bandana, they all saw two emerald green eyes smirking back at them. "I'm an exiled Rogue Moon, and when that happens, they cut out your eyes and let your blood dry on your cheeks. Because I still needed my eyes though, but also needed the other human kingdoms to trust, I faked losing my eyes. It's amazing what a little ink and cloth can do. I was able to convince most of the rulers to hold with us for twenty years. I'm glad you came when you did though, most of them were about to stop sending supplies."
"Why are you following us?" Hiccup asked.
"Contien, you met him, said you guys were traveling to the Dracones Valley with Nikolai. Which is stupid with only one elf and a herd of you humans. Especially if that one elf is Nikolai Daengrus."
"Why is that -"
"You don't seem to be helping that either." Niki challenged. "An exiled elf isn't much better than me."
Kaeytlyn shrugged it off. "If they even remember my name I'd be amazed. Plus, I've been here a couple of times, haven't been noticed yet. Which is actually another reason I wanted to come. Besides from catching up with Nikolai, you need a guide who knows what's been going on these last twenty years."
Niki's interest flared. "What's happened?"
Kaeytlyn gave her a silent look, studying her face. "I'll back up a little for you humans. When the last queen of Moonlire was on the throne, a rebellion stirred up from the other Elven Tribes. You see, at the beginning, the Elemental Queens were the rulers of the Elven Tribes. The elves however got tired of being under the rule of a human ruler, so they overthrew their rulers and replaced them with an elven bloodline. In the legend they say the Elemental Queen escaped to the mortal realm with the Protector. Queen Ling was the only remaining Elemental Queen, but she decided to become an elf along with her subjects, so she was deeply respected and her bloodline prevailed. Only twenty years ago, did the other elves spur up ideas of rebellion and forced the queen to abdicate her throne.
"The Rogue Moons who believed in the rebellion thought they would get a democracy like the other Elven Tribes, but instead they got a dictatorship. The other Elven Tribes were crushed as well to reveal their "monarchy" was in reality a facade. Now they are all enslaved in their own lands forced to work for some higher power. No one knows for sure, but they all suspect the humans."
"Is it?"
"No Nikolai. I've traveled to all the human kingdoms, and they have no clue what's going on in Xedous. Complete communication was cut off when Monrides was frozen. The Elven Wars are currently at a standstill."
Everyone was silent, and most stared into the fire. The Dragon Riders felt the heavy weight of guilt, realizing that the magical realm was most likely in worse shape than their own.
"So we need to find out who is in charge of this."Niki spoke up.
"Nikolai," Mala started to speak but she shook her head.
"Mala out of everyone here, you and Kaeytlyn know why I cannot leave this world like this. I have to do something."
"That's three people to fight a war." Mala argued. "The last Elven Wars lasted five decades, and that was with all seven human kingdoms and four Elven tribes. We don't have that time."
Niki's fist curled and she bit hard down on her lip. "There has to-"
Kaeytlyn rested a hand on her arm. "Nikolai, let's go and take a walk."
Whenever Kaeytlyn used a soft voice, it was practically impossible to resist her, so Niki stood up and followed her between the trees. They were silent for several minutes, both trying to figure out the labyrinth of topics that needed to be discussed between them.
"Nikolai." she started. "Why haven't you told them you are Moonlire's last queen?"
*
Two blonde heads pop out behind curtains, one of them carrying a feathered chicken.
"Do you think the coast is clear?" one of them whispered, spitting onto the stage to see if anything would move.
"I think so." the other replied, placing the chicken on top of his head. They walked onto stage center and picked up a microphone that was laying there. The girl tapped it and made a loud screeching sound that tore at their eardrums.
The chicken squawked and tried to jump off of the boy's head, but he grabbed her and softly petted her feathers to calm her down. "Don't do that!"
"Sorry bro." the girl said then looked around at the audience which was full of empty seats covered in red leather. "Wow, what a turn out."
"Definitely." the boy pointed at a sign that read "1k Reads". "We've got 1,000 reads!"
"Wow, oh look at this!" the girl picked up an envelope and read its contents. "Tuff! We get to introduce the prize!"
"Prize?" Tuff leaned over and peered at the letter. "Wow a prize. Well we have to do this properly!"
"How?"
"Lights, Camera, Action!"
(A brief pause for commercials ;)
"Good Morning Readers! Or whatever time it is for you. It's your hosts Ruffnut and Tuffnut Thorston."
"And Chicken." Tuffnut added. "We're here to thank you all for 1,000 reads of This Is The Last Time."
"We hope you've been enjoying it, because this book has been a rollercoaster." Ruffnut chuckled. "So as a treat for all you wonderful readers, the author has decided to throw in a sneak peek with her new novel."
"It's like a rewrite of This Is The Last Time! But more awesome!" Chicken squawked.
Tuffnut praised, "Thanks Chicken."
Ruffnut flipped her braid over her shoulder. "We hope you guys will continue us on our journey, and have been enjoying your time here. See you next month!"
*
Nikolai let out a small cry, which she immediately silenced by biting down on her lip and stuffing it down her throat, when a branch covered in acreena thorn tore through her thick armor. Even as she ran behind Kaeytlyn, she could hear her silent criticism. Nikolai had picked up that skill years ago, back when their fathers would chase them through the castle, without knives.
"One more sound and I'll cut your tongue out."
The sound in reality was barely audible, but when running for their lives everything was amplified. Temilan heard it from the front of their trio and without even pausing, she jumped twenty feet into the air and perched gracefully on a branch. Any snow hardly fell from her weight.
Nikolai didn't give a second thought to the jump and attempted to follow suit when pain shot through her injured leg, and her aim was thrown off. Her stomach flew into a branch below Temilan, but it snapped, and she continued to crash into the branches, hitting every awkward angle that made it impossible for her to grip anything. Any snow that grazed her fingers was vibrating so hard from the Incoreni's hooves, that she slipped again. She had a moment to realize that there were no more branches to snap and she prepared herself to fall into the pile of snow beneath her, when her heart lurched against her ribs as her foot nudged itself between two sturdy branches.
Kaeytlyn climbed down to her level, with as much grace as Temilan did, and helped Nikolai climb up the tree. "Over there." She pointed to a few trees on the side of the road. They all jumped and climbed higher in the trees, just so that enough branches were covering them from all directions.
She pressed a slender finger to her lips and ordered the other to be silent and still. As the Incoreni drew closer, the vibrations from the snow grew stronger. Nikolai's grip started slipping and she desperately dug her nails into the bark, begging herself to stay on just long enough for the danger to pass. As the Incoreni's frozen hooves pounded against the snow, and their elven riders squatted down on their backs, which often were too dangerous to sit on unless the rider wanted a frozen spike impaled into their behind. They were close enough that she could no longer readjust her position, without a high chance of them hearing.
The tree that Kaeytlyn had chosen was in line with other trees that bordered the road, and Nikolai couldn't help but feel as if they were practically standing in the middle of the road waving a white flag. If they moved any further away from the road though, the scouts trekking slightly behind the haste Incoreni would easily catch them.
Kaeytlyn made a risky move however and stretched her leg against Nikolai's back and anchored it into a slit between two wide branches, so if she fell, her arms would catch Kaeytlyn's leg. She held her breath as she watched the branch slowly lose the energy to sway. Any movement caught by the elves would immediately be investigated. Even if they turned invisible, the Incoreni summoned to their location would see them bright as day.
She felt Temilan and Kaeytlyn's muscles tense up when the Incoreni dashed past them. Their thundering hooves against the snow almost made her fingers lose her grip completely. When their beats had steadied out, she slowly crept her fingers across the bark's ridges, and tried to steadily regain her breath as silently as possible.
Under Temilan's arm, she spotted the small particles of snow shifting around to form a shape she couldn't make out from this distance. The others picked up on the noise and froze their breath. Kaeytlyn moved her head so slow that someone only noticed she had moved when she stopped. Nikolai's eyes were starting to ache from the prolonged period of squinting at the shapes being shaped in the snow. She relaxed her eyes for a moment and caught Temilan giving a silent question. The back of her head was facing the snow and she was smart enough to deal without answers than risk their exposure.
Temilan's eyes looked down at Kaeyltyn's boot and eyed the oezoe's hoofprint outlined on the sole. Immediately Nikolai squinted her eyes back to the shapes in the snow, which were easier to see now that they had advanced closer to their tree. She recognized the oezoe's footprints from Kaeytlyn's boot. The hoofprint was a diamond with soft edges on the side angles, and thin tails streamed from the three bottom angles.
The Rogue Moon elves had adapted this technique from the Evergreen Maidens. Taking common animal tracks and placing them on the bottom of their shoes so when they walked, they would show an animal's instead of their own distinct-four toed feet. While the Evergreen Maidens chose hoofprints that mimicked their own foot style, the Rogue Moons chose ones that would only cover the front half of the sole.
As the generations grew, their feet had evolved to simply standing on the front ends of their feet, rather than the whole length, which only made their eight foot stature more significant. What made the hoofprint technique work with the Rogue Moons though, is their ability to turn invisible. Even if someone was watching the hoofprints appear across the snow, they would immediately assume it was an animal instead of stopping to consider where the physical body was.
Oezoes were always a common footprint, simply because they were common across the lands of Xedous. Their skinny, snake-like bodies were covered in heavy furs, which they shed during the summer moons. During sun, their fur would be a solid white with yellow markings around their bodies, while during moon, it would turn to a dark black and turquoise markings. Despite their playful attitudes and brightly colored fur making them ridiculously easy to hunt, the oezoes were never troubled by the hunters. Many of the elves considered it a great crime or to an extent, a form of cannibalism to eat an oezoe, because of the markings on the fur reflected the markings on elves' skin.
Nikolai had chosen an oezoe as her first hoofprint, but her interests later moved her towards the Heline Deer which was currently embedded on her own boot.
Now, oezoe tracks walked through the trees, taking a route that would allow him to circle every one and peer up into its branches.
"You spotted something?" a voice from a few trees down called out.
"No." the elf directly below them answered. "Just feel like they are going to be right in front of me and I'll miss them."
The other sighed. "Why did they even let a rookie like you on the team? Probably just because you're a guy."
"That has nothing to do with it!"
"It does and you know it." The hoofprints moved closer to the one standing beneath their tree and shoved the original's backwards. Now the elf's body was outlined in the snow. Kaeytlyn didn't move yet, but Nikolai could sense her energy rising to pounce if the scouts remained there any longer. "They should have never allowed you boys into the ranks. You only slow us down, get in our way."
"Commander Jinx says we are a viable asset."
"Commander Jinx has to say that or else that damned King Chester would've had her murdered like he did to his wife."
Nikolai's blood froze, and just like a snap of her fingers, fury replaced every cell in her body. Her mother had left her when she and her father had traveled to Lunshear as a celebration for her two hundredth and thirty-first moon cycle. She had returned to the castle only to discover her mother's quarters empty and the helpers awestruck on what had happened.
The cruelest part wasn't the rumors that erupted across the kingdom, the most vicious being her father killed her, but instead the fact Nikolai was supposed to empathize for her. Supposed to feel sorry, hurt, empty, alone. When instead she felt relieved that there had to be no more intense glares between her parents at the dinner table, or the dreary feeling that set over the castle like a humidity sets in during a storm, except it was when her parents fought.
While her mother was off sulking about her miserable life, her father had been there for her. He walked with her to the healer's hut whenever she landed wrong or got a scratch. He took her along on his journeys across Xedous, taught her all the necessary skills for leading her country. He is the one that established a close bond with her, a place that should've been filled by her mother.
Nikolai wasn't going to sit around in the tree, pretending like she was simply another branch attached to an insignificant tree by the side of a road. She had been running from too much.
So, she jumped.
The scout standing above the other had materialized the moment their blades interlocked, and Nikolai was thrown against the snow wall against the roadside.
The one on the ground showed himself and pointed at Nikolai. "It's the queen!"
The female scout wasn't listening however and pulled out her dagger. A thirsty grin covered her face as she stood over Nikolai, twirling the daggers in a way that threatened to slip and fall straight into her stomach. "That was a risky move, your highness." She chuckled. "Don't worry, I'll save you from the embarrassment of a public execution. You'd deserve one though, but then I wouldn't have the honor myself." She adjusted the blade in her hand to strike but turned around and slammed it against Kaeytlyn's katana. "Kaeytlyn, Kaeytlyn." She tsked. "I would ask what your father would think of you, but you might want to know, he lost his head a few hours ago."
That was also a mistake.
I want to thank you guys for sticking with this book, you all are awsome! All humor aside I really am grateful for the support. I hope this finds you all well. I also wanted to let you know I'm trying really hard to publish a chapter during the first week of every month. See you next month! :)
-Cassiopeia