Nine: Confessions

"It's been four days," Fishlegs said as the Riders sat by Hiccup's bed. "Why hasn't he woken?" Heather stole a glance at the still shape lying motionless on the bed, a little scruff darkening the line of his jaw and his skin pale before she sighed.

"I was talking to Gobber and he tells me that Gothi explained that he may never wake...or if he does, he may remain paralysed or blind," she sighed. "We were technically too late: the antidote should have been given before dawn. It's a miracle he's still alive."

"Oh...it's all my fault..." Fishlegs murmured. "I should've gotten to the fruit sooner. I shouldn't have needed to go all the way to Vanaheim and then we could have given him the antidote sooner and..." Reaching out gently, Heather rested her hand on his arm, gently curling her fingers to still his anxious ramble.

"Fishlegs!" she said urgently, staring into his eyes. "I'm glad it was you-because none of us would have realised that the fruit we need and the fruit from Vanaheim were one and the same. Only someone with your amazing botanical knowledge would have realised that."

"But I was too slow and..."

"Fish-you sent Iggy to us," she reminded him. "And we helped you. We sent the fruit back by the fastest dragon we had and it worked! Hiccup is still alive!" She lowered her eyes. "Frankly, that was something none of us expected when we returned." The husky man gently took her hand and nodded.

"I know," he sighed. "I mean, Hiccup is my best friend...he's the only one who understands me, I think." He looked at the still shape. "I mean, we chat for hours and hours about dragons. He listens to my theories and I listen to his. We debate about dragon behaviour and relationships and how we can deal with them...and loads of other stuff..." He swallowed. "Sometimes, we find ourselves thinking exactly the same thing and finish each other's sentences. It's...like the brother I never had. And I have never properly apologised for how I treated him when he was desperately trying to be accepted and I was safely in with the cool kids." Heather stared into his green eyes and frowned.

"You know, no one ever talks about that," she murmured. Fishlegs rubbed his arm and looked at the floor.

"Well, it's kind of because we all feel horribly bad about it-and terribly guilty," he admitted. "I was his friend when we were much younger-and so was Astrid. But as he remained small and clumsy, we kind of drifted apart. Astrid concentrated on her training and I joined the gang just to avoid being picked on. And I really started growing while Hiccup remained small. The others bullied him-sometimes quite badly. His father was disappointed in him and really Gobber was his only friend until he shot down Toothless." Heather stared at the unconscious shape and sighed.

"You know, this sounds so unreal," she admitted softly, watching Hiccup's chest gently rise and fall. "When I first arrived, he was clearly your leader. You all accepted him-sure, you argued and Snotlout was...well, Snotlout. But everyone acknowledged he was the one in charge. That was why I worked so hard to stay with him. I-I can't believe that he wasn't always your friend..." Fishlegs sighed.

"And you know what? I don't think most of us have ever properly apologised either," he said slowly. "He has never asked and he has forgiven us...because he doesn't bear grudges..."

"But I think Astrid may well have apologised," Heather murmured. "Quite a lot..." Blushing, Fishlegs nodded.

"Even though he's my best friend, she's the one he wants to be with," he agreed. "I mean, she is a fierce warrior...and beautiful...and he has been in love with her forever...and they're betrothed...and she loves him..."

"And she doesn't know he's still alive," Heather realised. "Fish-do you think Iggy can find her?" He shrugged.

"But he doesn't know where she's gone and he's scared of Sneaky, her Terrible Terror..." he protested. Taking his hand, Heather stared at the motionless auburn-haired Rider.

"Please," she murmured. "She's my friend as well. And she loves him with all her heart. She deserves to know he's still alive..." Fishlegs nodded and then leaned forward, his big hand closing around Hiccup's as he leaned forward.

"I'm sorry," he said sincerely. "I know I never said it. And you never asked. You were just so...forgiving. So kind and generous...even when we were playing up or being stupid or teasing you. You made each and every one of us feel part of the team, no matter how idiotic. You spent time with all of us. And you never let us down. I'm sorry I let you down...both when we were younger when I wasn't brave enough to stay your friend and now when I wasn't fast enough to get the fruit to you in time. And I hope...I hope when you wake, you will forgive me. Please come back to us, Hiccup. Please keep fighting. Please wake."

And then he looked over at Heather.

"I'll send Iggy when we leave him," he said. "But maybe we could stay a little longer?" Heather smiled.

"We can stay as long as you want," she said.

oOo

The port was a bustling but relatively remote settlement, well away from the usual Hunter haunts and so relatively safe to visit-as long as Astrid left Stormfly outside the village and disguised herself. But few paid any attention to the cloaked Viking woman, the axe slung confidently across her back as she walked through, pausing at the stalls and buying a few provisions, carefully bartering for the goods and exchanging fish Stormfly had caught for chicken, bread, dried fruit and some salves.

But she paused as she passed the forge, the familiar scents of burning wood, of hot metal, of sweat and leather causing her to freeze and close her eyes. The clang of metal on metal, rhythmic and echoing, reminder her of stolen hours with him, in the forge after Gobber had gone home or in the little back room or latterly, in his own forge on the Edge. Of his bright smile and sparkling emerald eyes and clever, nimble hands. And her throat had thickened and heart shuddered at the thought she would never see him again. There was a pause and the sounds of the clangs stopped.

"Can I help you, Miss?" a strange voice said. She blinked and her head snapped round as the smith walked froward, his rough-hewn face concerned. She stared into his blue eyes and tanned face. Forcing a smile on her face, she handed over her axe and produced a concealed sword and her knives.

"Would it be possible to get these sharpened please?" she asked and he stared at the axe as he reverently took it, weighing it and feeling the perfect balance.

"Thor, this is a beautiful weapon," he murmured and she nodded. "If I may ask, what smith made this?" Her eyes softened.

"The Berk Smith," she murmured and the man's eyes widened.

"Gobber the Belch?" She chuckled at his shocked words. It was easy on isolated Berk to forget that Gobber was a well-respected smith across the entire Archipelago.

"This was actually his apprentice's work," she admitted and the man stared in shock.

"How could an apprentice manage such work?" he asked in a reverent voice and she smiled.

Because he loved me, she thought and then she looked up, her eyes melancholy. "He was brilliant," she murmured. "Gentle and inventive and kind and-and brilliant." The man looked up, hearing the sorrow in her voice and reaching the right conclusion.

"I'll attend to it straight away, Miss," he promised and turned away, carefully taking the weapons to the grindstone. Sighing, Astrid leaned against the counter-and then she started as she heard a very familiar voice.

"Miss Astrid? Well bless my beard! Fancy seeing you so far from the fair isle of Berk!"

She turned and stared at the shape of Trader Johann, his amiable face smiling at her, his eyes searching her face for an explanation. She shrugged.

"I am out here looking for the people who hurt Hiccup," she told him in a low voice. "What are you doing here, Johann?" The Trader made an expansive gesture, his garish costume and loud voice standing out in the small town.

"Ah, out here in Nog End, my wares are appreciated all the more for the infrequency of my visits and of course, the entertainment of my tales of adventure," he explained, his voice as amiable as ever. "As the Khazi of Kalabar once said to me, Johann, your tales are the most exquisite window on the wide realm of Midgard. Or Earth...I forget which..." Suppressing the desire to roll her eyes and sigh, Astrid listened politely because she was still keen not to attract attention-though Johann was, as usual, drawing a crowd. Astrid leaned back against the wall of the forge, jerking her hood up to conceal her face.

"Have you heard where Krogan or Viggo Grimborn are?" she hissed. The Trader looked offended.

"Miss Astrid-the very thought that I would deal with such terrible people-especially after what they did to poor Master Hiccup..." he protested and then he paused. "How is he, by the way?" There was a pause and she looked away.

"The antidote didn't arrive in time," she said quietly and the man gasped.

"Oh, you must forgive my thoughtlessness," he exclaimed. "I am truly sorry for your loss. It was obvious to even the most casual observer that you and he were in love and shared such a bond..." He patted her arm aimlessly. "I had hoped to be asked to help provide the exotic delicacies for your wedding feast...at cost price, no cut for me at all...but now..." Astrid blinked.

"Yes-and so all I have now is revenge," she said. "And you're going to help me, Johann!"

"Of course, Miss Astrid," he said humbly. "Maybe we can wait until your weapons are serviced and then you can explain what assistance you wish of this humble Trader..." Astrid scowled at him and leaned closer.

"And the first thing you are going to do is take me to Viggo and Krogan," she breathed.

"I am?" he gulped. "Did I tell you that I have an appointment to deliver good hardy Berkian wool to the Emir of Araby? And if I don't leave now, I may get caught in the winter storms and lose the commission...?" Astrid grabbed his arm and leaned close.

"Odin damn it, you will help me, Johann!" she said in a cold voice and the man hunched meekly.

"Of course," he said, backing down immediately. "Is the Chief in charge of this mission?"

"It has his blessing but no, I am on my own out here," she told him as she turned back to the smith and gratefully accepted her beautifully-sharpened weapons, handing over a small gold coin for the service-but the man handed it straight back.

"I don't want your money, Miss," the man said honestly. "It is a privilege to attend to such weapons. By Odin, they are of such quality any King would want them for his trip to Valhalla! Your apprentice is a talented man."

"He was," Astrid murmured sadly and then smiled briefly at the man. "And thank you." He nodded and turned back to his abandoned work, the clang of meal once again ringing through the forge. Silently, Astrid fell in step alongside Johann and they wove through the crowds until the reached a small tavern. Johann chivalrously directed her to a table and went to fetch them both an ale, returning with a bland smile on his face and carefully seeing a mug in front of each of them. He sipped his and sighed.

"Nog End may be an absolute pain to get to-but they do have very fine beer," he admitted and Astrid took a sip-and then a larger one. It was indeed a very pleasant, light taste-very different from the dark, turbid beer that Mulch and Bucket brewed on Berk. Johann sat back and smiled. "So tell me how you have been getting on," he invited her. "And of course, I am happy to carry any messages back to Berk." Nodding, Astrid briefly summarised her travels and the destruction she had already wrought.

"If you go back to Berk, please send word to the Chief that I have sunk many of the Hunter ships and taken out one of their auction sites and the entire Hunter village," she ended. Johann stared at her, sipping his ale and then steepling his fingers.

"My goodness," he commented. "You have been astonishingly busy. You have sunk how many Hunter ships now?"

"Thirteen," she reported. "Though I am not sure that Viggo is aware because I didn't leave any survivors. And that doesn't count the ships moored at the auction or at the Hunter village."

"And you erased that from existence entirely, slaying all but a few women and children?" he breathed and stared at her. She nodded.

"They were his enemies," she said evenly. "They had him branded as Hunter property. Now there are no Hunters so no one can ever claim his body. He is mine and mine alone."

"And now you are seeking Krogan and Viggo-and their remaining forces...presumably to annihilate them as you have the others?" he checked and she nodded.

"I need to know where they are-so I can plan my attack," she said. "I need to figure out how to avoid the Fliers-or disable them. And take them down...permanently...while not harming the dragons..." She took another sip of her ale, her throat dry from the explanation.

"A difficult task since Krogan is extremely ruthless and is an accomplished Flier and tactician," Johann commented, his tone harder. "And he will be on his guard since you have already wiped out about two thirds of my ships with your efforts."

Astrid blinked, her eyes feeling unaccountably heavy as she peered at Johann. Her vision was starting to swim and she thought her ears were playing tricks on her as well.

"Your ships?" she repeated. He nodded.

"Is your head swimming, my dear?" he asked her, the whimsy dropping from his voice and being replaced by a callous edge that was familiar from the many enemies that Astrid had faced in her years as a Dragon Rider. She nodded, focussing all her energy on trying to lock on the voice that seemed to be coming in and out of earshot, like noises heard from underwater. "That would be the drug I put in your ale. It was a shame to waste such a quality beverage-not that I expected a savage like you to appreciate the complexities of the brew-but you really seem to be far too dangerous to my operation to allow to roam free any more..."

"Your operation?" she asked in a slurred voice. He smiled like a shark.

"I am afraid I have expanded my portfolio from just trade-which was only ever a means to an end-to my true calling," he said. "I am a man who is not without my own steel. I got my ship, name and tales from real Traders who I encountered and slew some years ago-to enable me to come to this territory and cultivate the persona. After all, who looks at Johann? Johann with his ridiculous tall tales and outrageous clothes. Who suspects Johann, everyone's friend, always meek and servile and humble..." The last word was spat in disgust. "Who suspected Johann of being the mastermind behind the Hunters and Krogan's Fliers, the one who has them all looking for clues to the King of Dragons, a beast so fearsome that it can control all other dragons with only the power of its mind? A dragon like that would give the man who controlled it ultimate power...but your idiot 'Master Hiccup' wouldn't break and would not hand over the lenses I need to display the location of the beast. And I know my men tried to break him."

Her eyes widened in shock, her fuzzy brain making the connections far too slowly. He smirked, his eyes cruel.

"Yes, I watched them torture him," he said without any emotion. "It was an interesting intellectual challenge, trying to break a young man who is so physically unimpressive...pretty and stronger than he looks but in the end, just a young man. It was a strain not to show myself but I had to cover the percentage that he could be rescued...and I could not jeopardise what I had built up and carefully crafted over so many years for a few moments of pleasure flaying that arrogant, interfering, sarcastic smart-mouthed...boy!"

"You're a monster..." she mouthed. Johann smiled and snapped his wrist, a knife appearing in his hand from a holster clearly concealed in the puffy, impractical striped arms of his tunic.

"When he was blindfolded and strapped to the chair, I took pleasure in stabbing this into his stump," he said sadistically. "I took pleasure in watching his blood flow, in hearing him scream and in thinking of how we could use dragons to hurt him. Dragon spines are very sharp and very supple-perfect for scoring the boy's hide. And it was amusing to see him cringe when he saw the men approach him with parts of his beloved dragons." He moved the knife so it reflected the light. "But I can't let you leave. Even though Hiccup is dead, the Riders may be a nuisance...unless they remain ignorant of anything out here until it's too late."

His arm moved in a blur but Astrid had chewed at her cheek while he was talking and the pain had cleared her vision enough to hear the prelude to attack, She was already moving sideways as the knife sliced through where she had been and she felt a hot pain in her side. If she hadn't moved, it would have buried in her heart. She staggered sideways and grabbed her axe, swinging it round to parry the second knife. Grabbing the ale, she threw it into his face and stumbled out into the Plaza.

"Stop her!" Johann yelled. "She's stolen my money!"

Head still spinning, Astrid glared over her shoulder at the man and threw a stool from the nearest table at him, making him duck and allowing her the chance to break into the Plaza. Men were looking at her and starting to converge, so she there back her head and gave her best Nadder roar. Modulating it to distress, she roared again, causing the would-be good citizens to back off a pace in confusion. And then there was an answering caw as Stormfly zoomed in low over the huts, pausing only long enough to spray a fan of spines in front of the men to drive them further back and then touch down for her to throw herself into the saddle. Johann was emerging from the tavern as Astrid leaned drunkenly over the Nadder's neck.

"Go, girl-and hurry!" she slurred, pressing her hand to her side and feel the hot, sticky sensation of blood. They accelerated into the sky, speeding directly out to sea, away from any weapons or pursuit and as she slumped forward, Astrid cast a shocked glance over her shoulder.

Johann was a traitor.

Scratch that. Johann was the enemy. THE enemy. The LEADER of the enemies, even above Viggo and Krogan.

And no one in Berk knew or suspected...and wouldn't until it was too late.

oOo

His fingers were bleeding, the jagged rock digging brutally into his skin but he pushed on, his concern for Astrid forcing his exhausted and broken body on. His hand slipped and he clung on desperately, bracing his legs against the walls and trying not to fall. His chest was scorching with every breath, his limbs shaking and he knew that he probably wouldn't make it but the image of Astrid being hauled back by Krogan was enough to keep him struggling.

Suddenly, his hand reached out and found nothing but the ground at the top of the pit and his heart leapt with hope, his fingers curling into the earth. Somehow, he managed to lever himself up and eventually, he lay panting on the ground by the pit, his beaten body heaving. Slowly, he raised his head and looked around, his vision still blurred with the effort. He was in a cave at the far end of the fortress, the cool surroundings isolated. And then he grimaced: his prosthetic was gone and the stump was a mess, the skin ripped and torn, burns and scars wrapped around the already sensitive area. It was excruciating anyway but he needed to get up and save her so he ignored the pain from that and all his other wounds and made himself scramble to his feet-foot. And then, leaning against the rocky wall, he quietly hopped towards the passage.

It was eerily deserted as he hopped along, finding a discarded sword which he gratefully used as a crutch. Silently, he shuffled forward until he found himself at the door of a large space-and as he peered in his heart shuddered.

Astrid was pinned down as Krogan ravished her. She was struggling, trying to rip her arms from his grasp and turn her face away from him but he was persisting, his low voice taunting her that she was so weak and vulnerable. Her eyes swept over where he was standing, the blue swimming with a silent plea-and he staggered forward, grabbing her discarded axe and swinging furiously at Krogan. The clang sounded as his own sword parried and slammed him back off his feet as Krogan turned to face him, leering scornfully.

"Ah-the brave protector," he sneered. "Running to save your woman..." His eyes glittered with malice. "Too late!" There was the gleam of torchlight on metal as a knife raised-and then plunged into her body.

"NO!" Hiccup's scream was raw and desperate and he lunged forward, the axe clanging against the parrying sword. But as Krogan laughed at his adversary, the sword Hiccup had used as a crutch slid straight into his chest.

There was a silent moment as the sallow man stared-and then toppled sideways. Tossing the bloody sword aside, Hiccup crawled to her side and pulled himself up to his one leg, staring into Astrid's face.

"Hey," he murmured. She managed the flicker of a smile.

"Sorry," she murmured. "I-I couldn't manage to stop him..." Forcing a smile onto his face, he stared into her beautiful eyes and stroked her cheek tenderly.

"It's okay," he assured her, gently stroking a wisp of hair from her face. "We're free now." She gave a slight smile, her lips white.

"But...I'm going to have to leave you," she whispered. "I'm sorry..."

"Oh nonononono," he whispered, leaning close. "Milady, I need you. You can't leave me. I can't imagine a world without you. I can't live in a world without you..." Her hand reached up to press gently against his battered cheek.

"I'm always with you," she whispered. "Stay with me, babe..."

He blinked, his eyes stinging.

"Astrid-please hold on..." he begged her, stroking her face.

"Hold on, Hiccup," she murmured as he clutched her hand-and then he glanced up at a familiar warble.

"Toothless? How...?"

The Night Fury nudged hard against him and he felt a smile crack his face. as Toothless smiled eagerly at his Rider.

"Bud, I'm so glad to see you," he breathed and turned to embrace the dragon, breathing in the familiar scent and allowing the warmth and sense of safety to seep into his body. But when he glanced back, the table, Krogan and Astrid had all vanished. "Astrid?" he breathed and then he cast around. They were standing on a cliff, his prosthetic still missing but he was free. Toothless warbled and Hiccup threw himself into the saddle, his body still wrecked and shivering but back on Toothless, he felt back to himself. He leaned forward.

"Come on, bud-we need to find Astrid," he said.