Guardians Rising

10: All Together

Merida had fallen asleep nearly an hour ago. Hiccup had tried to tell her that her parents would be worried, but she stubbornly insisted on staying with him at least until his dragon was feeling a bit better. She reminded him a bit about Astrid: the iron resolve, for instace. He knew he wouldn't get anywhere arguing with her, so he left her to her own devices.

"Alright," he sighed. "I think we're all done here. I'm going to sleep." He ended on a huge yawn, then stopped as an unusual shadow on the edge of sight caught his attention. He narrowed his eyes, then glanced at Toothless. Unfortunately, the dragon was already fast asleep. Hiccup carefully placed his hand on the hilt of his firesword, inching toward the dark figure. He had barely taken one step when the creature reared like a horse and screamed loudly. The sound was terrible, like talons over granite, or sharp nails drawn over a chalk board. Hiccup covered his ears as Merida and Toothless jerked awake. Toothless whined and scratched at his ears, and Merida covered her's with her cloak.

"What is that?" she asked as the screeching stopped and they welcomed the ensuing silence.

Then an unfamiliar sound reached their tortured ears. Or, maybe not so unfamiliar. It was the sound of cracking ice.

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Jack and Rapunzel sped through the forest after the nightmare for quite a while. Fortunately, it was one of the slower ones, so they didn't have too hard of a time keeping up. All of a sudden, the nightmare reared, then neighed loudly, the bone-chilling sound piercing their ears like a spear, numbing all sense of time and leaving only pain.

The moment Jack recovered his senses, he lashed out with his wooden staff, desperately hoping that his ice powers were not gone too. A bolt of crackling blue crystallites shot out of it's end. Good.

The nightmare stood no chance; it froze completely in less than a second. A pair of surprised yelps came from just beyond the dip in the ground. Rapunzel stiffened, and Jack inched forward, wary of a trap. He peeked over the edge of the dip and saw two people: a young man with shaggy, chestnut brown hair and light green eyes, dressed in grey leather armor, brown pants, and boots; and a girl with incredibly curly, bright red hair and teal blue eyes. She wore a dull, dark blue dress and a similarly colored cloak. She saw Jack the instant his head appeared above the ridge.

In less time than he would have believed possible, her bow was in her hand and an arrow was pulled back, ready to fire. Her companion started back, apparently as surprised as Jack was.

"Who are y'u?" she demanded in a strong Scottish accent.

By this time, Rapunzel had joined Jack. She replied instantly, "My name's Rapunzel, and this is Jack. Who are you?" Jack winced as she told their names with apperently no caution.

The red-head paused for a moment, then said,

"I'm Merida Dunbroch, and this is Hiccup." Jack couldn't stop himself from chuckling. The other boy looked hurt, and Rapunzel gave Jack a reproachful glance.

"What are you doing out here?" asked Jack, swinging his legs over the rise and jumping down into the small bowl. Rapunzel followed suit, though a bit slower.

Hiccup answered, "We're- well, I am waiting here because my dragon is . . . injured."

"Dragon?" asked Jack, and Hiccup motioned behind him. What Jack and Rapunzel had first taken to be a large boulder, they could now see was actually a living thing. Jack drew in his breath sharply. Rapunzel mumbled,

"Oh, I wish I still had my hair." The other three lookeed at her, confused.

"Your... hair?" asked Hiccup. Rapunzel nodded. When they still didn't understand, Rapunzel told them all about her past; how she had been kidnapped and raised by Gothel, how she'd met Eugene, and how she discovered her true identity. In the end, it made quite a facinating story, even though she tried to keep it as short as possible.

"Well," said Merida after a short pause and a yawn, "I don't know 'bout y'u all, but I'll soon fall asleep fast as a bear in winter." Hiccup seconded her opinion; he'd been working for hours. Jack and Rapunzel agreed too, as they were exhausted from their trek through the forest. And so they all went to sleep against the warm dragon.

The moon shone brightly on the four of them and a soft whisper could be heard across the night.

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Hey, everyone, sorry I haven't updated in a while, I was busy editing a story for my friend, and kinda up to my neck in school. So, sorry about that. Don't forget to vote/comment, whatever if you liked it. Thanks for reading!