Guardians Rising

13: Nightmares and Norsemen

The change was incredible. Rapunzel's hair was growing at a fantastic rate, turning gold as it did. Jack, Merida, and Hiccup could only watch, wide-eyed, as, in mere seconds, Rapunzel's hair took on many years worth of growth, hanging to her ankles. The wisps slowed, stopped, and vanished. The light was now softer, coming only from the moon. Rapunzel opened her eyes.

"Whoa," said Jack, after a pause. "That's... a lot of hair." Rapunzel smiled.

"You should have seen it when I was living with Gothel. It must have been seventy-some feet." They had no words to that.

Everyone was quiet for a few moments, the moonlight lending a deceptive peacefulness to the small clearing. Jack's gaze wandered upward, and saw thin clouds draped over the moon.

Hiccup followed his gaze and couldn't help but think of that same moon over Berk, and the quiet gravestone he liked to visit.

———-

"He's been gone more than a day!" exclaimed Astrid. "I say we go look for him."

"Relax, Astrid," said Gobber, apparently taking his own advice. "He's prob'ly just off exploring." Astrid gave Gobber a glare which shut him up at once. She was not one to make idle threats.

"We have to find him. If he's hurt somewhere-" She was rudely interrupted by Snoutlout, who said,

"Stop being such a worrywart, Astrid. After all, he's got Toothless."

Astrid gave him her death glare. "Toothless," she said slowly and pointedly, "is not invincible."

Tuffnut broke in, plainly not hearing the impatience in Astrid's voice. "Uh, does Hiccup have an appointment with a bunch of creepy black horses? 'Cause there's a bunch of them out there now."

"Yeah," added Ruffnut, "and they're doing a great job of wrecking stuff!"

By this time, Astrid, Snoutlout, Fishlegs, and Gobber were at the massive doors, looking out at the destruction being caused by the frightening black creatures. The people were trying to hit the beasts, cleaving them in half or bashing them apart with maces, only to discover that their weapons were ineffective. Then, pure terror contorted their faces as the nightmares devoured them.

Astrid assessed the situation quickly and said, "We need to evacuate." The others looked at her incredulously. "There's nothing we can do. We need to evacuate."

Without further hesitation, Gobber hurried to the huge horn outside which would signal the evacuation. It was almost unnecessary as most people were already mounted on dragons. The five in the Great Hall followed suit, flying off into the now foggy night.

Astrid looked back at the quickly vanishing island of Berk, and thought

What were those? 

———-

A light breeze brushed across Hiccup's cheek, rousing him from a light sleep. He shivered. The night air had lost all heat and was now terribly cold. He wondered how he had ever gotten to sleep in the first place. He turned over in and saw his three friends and Toothless sleeping peacefully. It's all right for them, he thought grumpily. Toothless is a dragon, Merida's got her cloak, Rapunzel has tons of hair, and of course, Jack isn't bothered by the cold. Unable to find a comfortable position, Hiccup sat up and looked around. The forest was as still as ever. The moon had set, and the stars were now shining in a black sky. The dark clouds massing on the northern horizon caught his wandering eye, and he thought, I hope Astrid is safe.

* * *

Hey everyone! I hope you enjoyed this chapter (and it's title). I was on a vacation for the past weekend so I didn't get a chance to update. So, comment, vote, whatever you like. Thanks for all your wonderful support, it's really kept me going. :)