Mousedom: Dangers and Dragons pt 14

Mousedom: Dangers & Dragons (part 14)

       "I have to admit," Astrid commented as the hilly boarder grew closer. "They were nice."
       "Yeah," Hiccup agreed. "You almost wouldn't believe that they were the ones that kidnapped us."
       Stephan chuckled, he couldn't agree more. Who would have guessed that the people who essentially started that whole mess would end up being the ones who helped them sneak across into Bluthia? Granted, he was still much more at ease now that they were on their way and well away from the strange family, even if Margo had proven herself to be a valued friend. Though not by much.
       Now it was time to test the information Grue had given them and the boys found themselves practically holding their breaths as the first of the trees sped beneath them.
       "So far so good," Hiccup muttered. They'd seen lights and small smoke trails of encamped guards scattered along the edge of the treeline, but nothing came their way. Once they'd started flying upward with the hill's incline, there was nothing at all. The whole ridge of hills was void of all human activity. But that was probably a good thing, since his dad had always told him that this was unwanted territory. Neither Bluthia or Dreamworks wanted to be linked to these forested hills and Hiccup could only imagine horrible things that existed down there.
       With the occasional squirrel.
       “You okay back there?” Hiccup asked as he felt the prince jolt slightly.
       “Uh, yeah,” Stephan rasped. “A little light-headed... must have been... holding my breath... Sorry.”
       Hiccup chuckled, then made sure to take a deep breath himself. “I know what you mean.”
       Stephan gave a small laugh too, sounding sheepish as he admitted, “Guess I’m still nervous from this week.”
       “Yeah, well, with good reason,” Hiccup assured him, glancing back to give his friend a reassuring glance.
       The prince gave a snort of laugh, but he smiled as he gazed down on the rolling hills of trees. Even having been flying for several minutes, they were only just past half way over it all. Had he and his father really traveled across all of this? Surely it hadn’t been that vast... had it? Maybe they’d traveled through a narrower section.
       "See?" Astrid called to them as Stormfly glided closer. "Nothing to worry about! We'll have you to the castle in---."
       It was as if the air around them exploded. Stormfly went blown backwards, arcing upwards momentarily before careening gracelessly down to the forest below. Toothless rolled in the air, with the two boys holding on for dear life.
       "Astrid!" Hiccup shouted, searching the ground frantically for any sight of the blonde as Toothless let out several panicked roars.
       "Over there!" Stephan rasped, pointing to something still falling through the air.
       "Toothless!" Hiccup yelped. The dragon instantly whipped around, charging through the air as fast as lightning towards the unconscious Viking.
       In the blink of an eye, Astrid was gone and Hiccup almost thought they might have over-shot her. "Did you get her?"
       Toothless looked down to his clawed front paws, then managed to nod to his riders. Only Hiccup noticed the dragon hadn't attempted to smile.
       "We need to set down," he said, glancing back at Stephan.
       The prince looked conflicted, and a little ashen from the flight, but gave a decided nod and Hiccup patted the dragon's side. Toothless's ears perked at the silent command and soon they came to a bumpy landing in a small glade.
       As soon as the dragon set foot on the ground, both boys tumbled unceremoniously off either side of the dragon and into the grass. Toothless made some chiding noises and Hiccup pushed himself to his feet, running to take Astrid from the dragon's hold and ease her to the ground.
       She was out cold and a small gash ran along her hairline, but otherwise she looked okay. Actually, she kinda looked better than Stephan did. The younger boy was shaking a little and still looked a bit gray in color when he joined them. Maybe it had been a bad idea to force him to eat.
       "How is she?" the prince asked, looking at the girl with large eyes.
       Hiccup shrugged. "Good, so far as I can guess," he said with a sigh. "But we're in trouble now."
       "What do you mean?" Stephan asked, instantly more alert and glancing around. But nothing else was coming into the clearing, Toothless's restless circling  assured that.
       "This is the Dividing Ridge," Hiccup explained. "Nobody in their right mind comes through here---well, unless they're on a path. Which is the only way I can imagine you and your dad got through."
       Stephan nodded absently, then looked towards the sky in the direction they'd come from. "Who do you suppose fired upon us?"
       "I dunno," Hiccup responded, getting to his feet. "But we'll have to find out."
       "How?" the prince asked skeptically. "We can't fly there. Astrid---"
       "We'll walk," Hiccup said simply. "Toothless can carry Astrid and we'll scout around him."
       If he'd thought that this idea would have made the air-sick prince happier, he was wrong. It was an easy read on the blonde boy's face that he thought this was a bad idea. But, really, what other choice did they have?
       "Its either that or Toothless and I check the air and you guard Astrid," Hiccup pointed out. When Stephan's expression turned a little too thoughtful for comfort, he quickly added, "You're injured and ill---.”
       “I’m not---.”
       “---And we only have maybe two daggers and a dozen rocks between us," Hiccup finished firmly, willing the boy to understand that right now was not the time to play hero.
       Stephan gave him a rueful smile, then sighed and shook his head. "Alright," he said in defeat. "Walking it is."

~~°o°~~

       They might have gone a mile and a half. Maybe more. It was hard to tell while you were going over such a rocky terrain, but the fact that his legs felt like they were going to break off below the knees told Stephan they'd gone enough of a distance that they could get seriously lost if they weren't heading in the right direction.
       Hiccup seemed pretty sure of himself when they found scorch marks and then strange spikes as long as his forearm. Which was a bit of a relief for Stephan even if he'd never admit it. He was exhausted---physically, mentally---you name it. He was only hoping that they found their way into Bluthia and safety before he lost his emotions, too. The last thing he’d have wanted was to be in charge of direction.
       The stars were shining brightly and the half-moon was at least a third through its rotation through the sky before they reached a wide stream cutting through the forest. In a way it was a good thing they’d stopped there, since Astrid promptly woke up from her place atop Toothless’s saddle. At the same time it might have been bad since she also wanted to try drowning the boys for letting her dragon get taken.
       Given how he felt so far, Stephan simply sat alongside the water and soaked his feet while Hiccup tried to calm her down. “Urgh! Whatever!” Astrid finally snapped, dropping onto a boulder next to Stephan. “How close are we to finding her?”
       “Shouldn’t be far,” Stephan said, catching the helpless expression on Hiccup’s face, though it attracted a dangerous expression from Astrid. “We’ve been walking back for ages now.”
       “And even if they did manage to get her away, I doubt they could have gotten her far,” Hiccup chimed in, tentatively joining them and giving Astrid a wary smile. “She’s too much like you.”
       The compliment did wonders and brought a proud smirk to Astrid’s face. “They don’t know what they’ve gotten themselves into.”
       Hiccup’s smile broadened and Stephan chuckled. “No,” Stephan agreed. “I doubt they do.”
       A loud splash made them jump in alarm, but when the three teens turned it was to see Toothless going after what fish he could find in the shallow water. Hiccup and Astrid nearly burst out laughing and Stephan let himself slouch with a sigh. He let his eyes close for a moment, just basking in the slight peace that he was in. It was almost hard to believe that it was only this morning he’d been threatened for his throne.
       He jerked his eyes open again as a hand roughly shook his shoulder. Realizing he was still next to the river, though not in it anymore, he found himself face to face with Hiccup who motioned for Stephan to stay silent.
       The prince gave him a questioning glance, but nodded and instead busied himself with pulling his boots back on. Astrid had her dagger out, still looking intimidating as she glared into the surrounding trees. Toothless looked just as agitated, but after a moment he let out a low growl and pointed further across the river.
       “What is it?” Stephan whispered finally.
“Toothless smells something," Hiccup said, handing him a dagger.
       Stephan looked down at the weapon, momentarily wondering if it was a good idea for him to take it since the last one they'd lent him was lost in Dreamworks somewhere. But Hiccup's attention was back on his dragon, so Stephan tried not to feel awkward while he held the knife.
       Attempting to figure out what time it was, Stephan looked upward and blinked in surprise. A plume of smoke was drifting across their patch of sky, and only faintly dissipated. Somebody was camping not too far away.
       "Look," he said, giving his friends a tug on their arms and pointing to the sky.
       "Toothless," Hiccup said after a moment. "How do you feel about following that smoke, buddy?"
       The dragon let out a little eager sound, much like one of King Philip's hunting dogs would, and pranced a little where he stood. Apparently the idea of flying was sorely desired.

~~°o°~~

       Riding a dragon again wasn't exactly something Stephan would instantly say he was looking forward to, but it beat walking and so he found himself holding onto Astrid as she shouted orders into Hiccup's ear.
       It didn't take long to find the camp, the smoke had been coming from a bonfire set in the middle of a small ravine, making the landmark look like something of a giant eye that watched them circle around for a landing place. Toothless carefully set them down by an odd structure of rocks that seemed to create a little bit of a cave on the slightly wider end of the eye.
       Astrid sank down and crawled to the edge for a better look. Exchanging glances, the boys quickly followed her. The area didn't look much different up close than it had in the air. The space might have been created by a steady stream or brook, but judging by how dry and feeble the few bushes appeared from where they'd tried to grow out of the walls---all water was long since gone. There were still plenty of rocks, though, and there were make-shift homes and lean-tos scattered around, so it wasn't entirely desolate.
       Most of the occupants of this strange little camp were around the bonfire, laughing and fighting and eating their fill of unidentifiable food that made Stephan's stomach churn. Beyond the fire there seemed to be another form of building, a stable perhaps, and a fenced area keeping something big.
       Next to him, Astrid inhaled sharply and pulled away from the edge. "Stormfly."
       "You're sure?" Hiccup asked as he and Stephan followed.
       "Positive," she reported, then bolted down the length of the gorge.
       Hiccup gave a sigh, then motioned for Stephan to follow as he went after her with Toothless in tow.
       This end of the eye had a strange rock formation much like the other, though it was smaller and the boulders looked more like three stubby fingers that created windows to peer through. Down below, there was definitely a stable, though Stephan was fairly sure no horses were inside, and a massive pen holding none other than the Deadly Nadder. Poor Stormfly was tied down in a web of ropes so she could only thrash against them in hopes of escaping as a group of vile looking men harassed her. Even her tail, with its dangerous spikes, was wisely tied down to keep them safe.
       "These guys weren't taking any chances," Hiccup commented, watching the antics with disgust.
       "Yeah," Astrid quietly scoffed, "Except for taking her in the first place."
       Stephan nodded in agreement, but he was busily analyzing the terrain and their chances of getting the ten feet down without being spotted. Under them, slightly hidden by a number of large rocks and briar bushes, was a strange gap in the formation of the walls that wormed its way down to the dusty ground below. It was steep and definitely left you in the open until you got most of the way down, but if they could get the bandits away from Stormfly it could definitely be an advantage.
       He was about to point this out to the Vikings when Hiccup tugged them down further behind the rocks. "Shh! Someone's coming!"
       They waited a moment as they heard an elevation in the jovial shouts of the bandits, but as they heard grunts of protests and struggles, Stephan inched up to see again. It was some of the bandits from the fireside, looking as though they'd gotten tired of the antics over there. But then why were they dragging two smaller men to the stables?
       Stephan's stomach dropped. Those weren't men, they were boys. Tied up and gagged and, judging by how one of them was entirely slack in the bandits' hold, injured.
       He shifted again for a better look as the smaller of the two was tossed unceremoniously into a stall. The taller was putting up a fight, twisting and turning and attempting to kick out at anything near him. One of the bandits laughed cruelly at his attempts and pulled the kid back by his hair. That's when Stephan caught a glimpse of the boy's face.
       The boy was angry, with good reason, and a good six years older than Stephan with golden brown hair that was understandably in disarray. Stephan didn't have to be any closer to know that these weren't any ordinary boys getting roughed up and deposited in a grotesque stand-in for a holding cell.
       At least one of them he knew very well: William, crowned prince of Swan Lake.