The Great Beyond

Chapter 72: A Ruff Transition (Reign)

              My leg urgently bounced in the stirrup of Shriek's saddle, desperate to reach Wingmaiden Island. We'd been planning the trip for a couple days, but Hiccup and I wanted to ensure that we understood exactly what we wanted to do. The two of us had made sure to plan this out together, after our sort of explosive incident the other day.

"All right, gang, when we get to Wingmaiden Island, I want everyone to be on their best behavior," Hiccup scolded, getting the jump on the biggest issue we were concerned about.

The twins flew up beside Hiccup on Barf and Belch, their smiles concerning me greatly.

"Hiccup, we've made a chiefly decision," Ruff announced.

"Okay," Hiccup said warily. "But you're not a chief, so— "

"We think we should be the ones to tell Atali we need to move the lenses," Tuffnut interjected.

"Since we're the ones that found out Johann knows where you hid them."

How was that any better than Hiccup and I telling her our plan?

"Okay, first of all, we don't know for sure that Johann knows anything about the lenses. You just heard a rumor about it at the Northern Markets," I scoffed. Sure, our measures we were on our way to take didn't look good for that argument, but we were just attempting to get ahead of things in case it turned out to be true. "We're just moving the lenses as a precaution."

"Uh, ba, ba, ba, ba." I rolled my eyes as Snotlout soared over my head. "If anyone is telling Atali anything, it should be me telling her, because I'm the ambassador to the Wingmaidens."

Last I checked, offending an entire group of people to the point where they captured and locked you up didn't make you an ambassador. In fact, that pretty much seemed like the opposite of what an ambassador would want to do.

"You're so right, Snotlout," Astrid laughed sarcastically, pulling Stormfly up behind him. "I can't believe they haven't erected a statue in your honor."

"They probably have, Astrid," he shot back cockily. "We haven't been there in a while."

"Yeah, a statue of Snotlout sitting in a stew pot, screaming for help," Ruffnut taunted.

"Ha, ha, ha. Like you know anything about the Wingmaidens, Ruff."

"I know they're not dudes."

I turned to Hiccup, my mouth twisted up warily.

"You see why I was worried about bringing them here?" I whispered. Hiccup chuckled and steered Toothless close to me, taking my hand and gently squeezing it before planting a kiss on the back of it.

"Oh, I'm well aware, love," he sighed. "But, we need as many eyes as possible to make sure that if Johann and the Hunters or the Flyers show up, everyone's adequately protected."

Under other circumstances, I would have climbed off my own dragon and held onto him on the back of Toothless, but we were practically at Wingmaiden Island, so I simply waited until we had landed on the ground, then reached out and laced our fingers together. We sought out Atali, greeting her and exchanging short pleasantries before Hiccup and I got down to business, our hands remaining intertwined as we explained our plan to her.

"I completely agree." Her words were certainly reassuring. "If there's a small chance the Hunters know where the lenses are hidden, they should be moved."