renegades, httyd

xxxviii. When Lightning Wants Revenge

renegades
chapter thirty-eight

   No one knew.

    The truth told in Harald's letter was locked under my chest, under that floorboard, under my bed━never to see the light if I could help it.

     No one knew, and I tried to keep on going with life as if it never happened.

     But it had happened. And no matter how much I tried to forget about it, it plagued my mind constantly. It was why I was up in the air with Winglash, frowning at the empty ocean. Another dead end━like usual. But I had sworn that this time; this time, I would find him. We had gotten word of a traveller with a purple Terrible Terror heading North by a fisherman from Outcast Island. We followed the word to the open ocean where we were sure to have seen a fishing boat for miles, but Harald was like a ghost. A ghost with dragon eggs, Gronckle Iron, and other important supplies. He would have had to stop somewhere. The dragons━if they survived without the warmth of the nest━would have had to hatch. Having baby dragons on a small fishing boat in the ocean? It was not wise. Harald was somewhere, I just didn't know where.

     "This is getting us nowhere," sighed Wartihog, massaging his back after the long flight. "Es━it's been a whole month. He's long gone by now."

      Of course, I couldn't tell them the real reason why I was so desperate to find him. I told no one. Not my parents, not my friends, not my sister, not Hiccup━this was something I had to keep to myself. Because if I didn't, I was scared to admit what that meant━or what it could mean. I had enough on my shoulders, and just the knowledge of this was drowning me in waters I knew I couldn't swim out of.

     "It's winter," I stated, stubborn. "He's carrying over ten dragon eggs━he would have had to stop by somewhere. What are the islands around here? Where's the map? Clueless━do you have the map?"

      "The only islands around here are ours and Outcast Island," Speedifist said, holding a hand out to Clueless to keep him from checking the map. "And Harald isn't stupid enough to stop at either. And besides━" he pointed to a group of mean-looking storm clouds heading our way. "We should get out of here before that storm hits. It looks dangerous."

      He was right━of course he was right, but I clenched my hands nonetheless. I needed Harald to explain. I needed to have some reason to think that he might be lying. Anything to escape this crazy and horrifying truth. With a sigh, I turned Winglash around back South. "Come on," I muttered, shoulders slumped. "Let's get home and prepare for this storm. It's definitely heading our way."

     A shiver of lightning cracked━like arms extending forth out of the storm clouds. Yes, it did look very dangerous.

      Returning to Berk, you'd almost think that Harald had never even stirred up trouble. Vikings went about their daily business, dragons roamed the skies and slept ontop of houses. Even finally━after a lot of hard work━dragons were beginning to rest and spend their time in the Hangar again, starting to find it safe again after their eggs had been stolen right after they were laid. Usually Snoggletog was full of baby dragons, but as the holiday passed, only a few young dragons were seen around━a painful reminder of what happened.