Viking and the Sprite Chapter 8

Chapter 8

   Hiccup had no idea what made him wake up at three in the morning, but he found himself with his eyes wide open;  Toothless was still sleeping at his side.  After tossing and turning for a while, Hiccup gave up on sleep and got out of bed, slipping his feet into his boots and tucking his sketchbook under his arm out of habit.  He tiptoed out of his room as silently as he could so as not to wake Toothless and walked down the hall.
 He looked around for something that he might find of interest to draw, but the marble halls and richly colored tapestries, as grand as they were, did nothing to incite a spark of appeal that would fan into a steady flame of interest.  But as Hiccup passed the stairs that led up to the forbidden West Wing, he stopped and looked at the banister.  ‘I wonder if she’s hiding anything up there- say, my sister… If she were hiding nothing in her room, then it wouldn’t be EXTREMELY forbidden, would it…?’  Decision made, he started up the stairs, not noticing a small black shadow following behind him.

 When Hiccup got to the top of the stairs, he saw grotesque stone statues similar to gargoyles in the corners, and the walls were lined with shattered mirrors.  He shivered, but went on.  At the end of the hall were two large wooden doors; the handles were carved in the shape of a lion’s roaring face- they seemed to leer, “Stay away; stay AWAY!”  Hiccup paid no heed, and taking a deep breath, reached out and pulled one of the doors open.  It took almost all of his strength to pull it open while being as quiet as he could.
 Inside was one of the grandest bedroom suites that he had ever seen in his life; the bed was canopied in curtains of burgundy velvet, but rather than being tucked into a corner or against a wall, it was almost the very center of attention on a raised dais.  The dressing table was pure white marble with a large mirror (shattered again), and a grand wardrobe was in a corner of the room.  Pictures hung all along the walls, and there was one particular portrait that caught Hiccup’s artist eye; not to draw, necessarily, but to get a closer look.
 It was the portrait of a pretty young girl of around eight years old with long red curls tied back with a white-gold ribbon dressed in a white dress with a yellow sash and golden slippers on her little feet; a happy smile curved her lips, and the artist had captured a merry sparkle in her bright blue eyes.  She was holding the hand of a very elegant lady dressed in shades of purple and blue who wore a diamond-encrusted tiara on her very light brown hair in a bun; the lady’s blue eyes were just like those of the little girl’s, but the shine in them was more gentle, and she had a look of motherly pride about her as she gazed down at the little girl.
 Was this… Princess Anya as a little girl?  Who was that woman holding her hand and looking down at her so lovingly?  Hiccup could see no trace whatsoever of the cruel and malicious princess in the face or eyes of the little red-haired girl- nothing but happiness and laughter.  What had happened to her to make her the way she was now…?
 A softly glowing light broke through Hiccup’s thoughts, and his attention was turned the balcony window where the light was coming from.  Hiccup gasped under his breath- underneath a bell jar of sheerest Cinderella-slipper glass was a lovely pink rose in full bloom; it was floating, and magic kept sparkling from it like water from a fountain- a few blush-colored petals lay on the tabletop under the bright green stem.  Beside the rose in the jar lay a silver hand mirror.
 Hiccup moved closer to the table where the rose was, in awe of its beauty.  He made no move to touch it, or the bell jar- instead, he brought his sketchbook from under his arm, pulled a pencil out of his vest pocket, set the pencil to a blank page of paper, and began to draw the glowing rose under the bell jar.  He didn’t miss a single detail- not the sparkles of magic, not the rose petals on the tabletop, nor even the texture of said petals that he could see through the glass.
 Hiccup knew that this perfect  and beautiful drawing would have to be his own secret, something that he couldn’t share no matter how much he wanted to, especially with Jack… He blushed as that thought ran through his mind.
 
A light touch at his leg made him yelp and stumble backwards- he clamped his free hand over his mouth and held tightly onto his sketchbook and pencil so that he didn’t make any noise.  When he flicked his eyes downward, he sighed in relief.  “Toothless!  It’s just you, thank God; you scared the HECK out of me, bud!”
 Toothless STARED at him, as though saying, “WHAT are *you* *DOING* *here*?”
 Hiccup laughed sheepishly and rubbed at the back of his neck, pocketing his sketchbook and pencil.  “Heh- you know us artists; we see something interesting, beautiful, intriguing, or all of the above, and we HAVE to draw it!”  As his eyes drifted over to the bed, he added, “I also may or may have not decided to check up on my sister.”
 Toothless gave his head a little shake as Hiccup traveled in the direction of the bed.  “Belle?” Hiccup called out softly.  “…Belle?  It’s me- Hiccup; you know, your brother?”  When no answer came, an uneasy feeling began to crawl down Hiccup’s spine.  “This conversation is beginning to feel VERY *one*-sided…” he muttered as he edged nearer to the bed.  But when he got to the bed, Hiccup’s stomach dropped and his heartbeat stopped for a moment at what he saw:  the bed was empty, even though it had been slept in.  A crumpled-up note lay on the coverlet, and Hiccup picked it up and smoothed it out so that he could read it.  The note was stained with tears, and the feminine handwriting, usually so neat and pretty, was now shaky and appeared as though the author did not comprehend how to hold a pen.
 ‘I’m SORRY, Hiccup and Jiminy- I’m SO, *so* *SORRY*.  Promise or no promise, I CAN’T stay here another *minute*!  I’m going home- Papa needs someone to take care of him.  Be happy with Jack (don’t play coy when you read what I said- I’ve SEEN the looks between you two), and tell Jiminy that I hope things work out between him and Pinocchio.  Goodbye, my dearest brother and best friend of Papa’s!
             -Belle’
 When Hiccup read the note, he understood just what had happened while he was asleep:  something had happened to make Belle run away into the night, and Anya had woken up to find Belle gone; she’d crumpled up the note in anger and left to find Belle and bring her back.  Hiccup shuddered- he did NOT want to think about what sort of punishment the princess might impose on his sister for running away.  “Oh, GOD; she’s out there all by herself in a *blizzard*…!”
 He turned his head to Toothless.  “Come on, bud; we need to wake Jiminy and Jack up so that they can help us find Belle and Anya!”
 The cat shook his head and scratched at a spot behind his ear four times.  Then there was a flash of lightening-like light so bright that Hiccup had to cover his eyes and shut them.  When the light faded, Hiccup almost stumbled backwards again out of shock- the little black cat with bright green eyes and a kinked tail was now a black dragon with the same peridot orbs- a NIGHT FURY, to be exact, with only one tail-fin; the other one was red-and-white, artificial and strapped to his tail.  A saddle lay on his back.
 Hiccup swallowed and reached his hand out to the dragon.  “T-*Toothless*?  I-Is that… YOU, bud?”
 The dragon purred and nodded, jerking his head to the saddle as though saying, “Let’s GO, already!”

 Hiccup had NEVER in his *life* ridden a dragon- not in REAL life, anyway; just his daydreams.  But it was very much like riding a horse, only different because THIS ‘horse’ could FLY.  The problem with Toothless was that because of his injured tail that resulted in one actual fin and one artificial fin, he couldn’t fly on his own (hence the kinked tail as a cat); he had to have someone with him.
 It was difficult, flying in snow, but the Viking boy and the Night Fury managed to go through the storm.  Howls and growls alerted them of wolves on the prowl, and when Hiccup heard a young woman’s fearful scream, he knew just WHO they were chasing.  “BELLE!”
 But just before Hiccup could fly down on Toothless and try to protect his sister, he heard another young woman’s cry, but this one was ANGRY and more *wild*.  It was Anya.
 Another gust of wind forced Toothless and Hiccup to land, and they joined the fight; Jack noticed that the self-same gust of wind had been caused by none other than Jack Frost!  The sprite was shooting ice out of his staff in the wolves’ direction, and Toothless added to the fight by breathing fireballs at them; Anya kicked out at the wolves, and Hiccup pulled his last resort from a sheath on his leg- it looked like nothing more than a large vegetable peeler, but when Hiccup flicked a switch on the side, flames appeared on the metal blade.  He swung it in the wolves’ path, scaring them with his fire.
 The fire was the last straw for the wolf pack; whimpering and whining, they turned tail and ran far away from the Viking, the winter sprite, the dragon, and the two young women.