Guardians Rising

19: Rescue

"Look!" cried Merida suddenly, as the four dragons came into view. Hiccup looked, gave a sigh of relief and said,

"Don't worry, Mer, it's my friends." Merida looked at him skeptically, then tossed her head of ultra-curly red hair and sat down on the soft grass to wait.

"Well," she replied, "I hope they're comin' t' rescue us. M' legs'll be worn t' stubs if I keep walkin' much farther!"

Rapunzel couldn't resist a giggle, which Merida returned with an ungracious glare.

The sun was setting behind them in a fiery haze as their rescuers landed gracefully on the ground. "Hiccup!" called a blonde girl as she jumped down from a mottled blue dragon. Hiccup's face lit up ans he ran to greet her. Merida looked on, attempting to remain calm, and not entirely succeeding.

Hiccup gave warm handshakes all around, and was soon trading stories with his friends, introducing them each to Merida and Rapunzel. Rapunzel, as always, was excited to meet new people, and soon appeared to be part of the group, laughing and talking with them all. But Merida, who was tired and, as such, hungry and rather snappish too, did not do much to mingle with the newcomers. She looked around with a slight apprehension at the growing darkness, and was just about to ask them sarcastically if they were all night owls, when a horn sounded from the direction of the castle.

They all quieted and Merida said,

"That's th' horn for closin' th' gates." She looked at them pointedly. "We should get goin'."

Hiccup and Astrid looked awkward for a second, then jumped to their dragons, which were standing ready. Merida got on behind Hiccup and Rapunzel with Astrid. "Well," said Hiccup, "here we go. You ready for this?" he asked Merida. She rolled her eyes impatiently.

"Let's jus' get on with it." Hiccup turned to face forward and Toothless jumped off the ground, sailing into the air so suddenly that Merida gave a surprised yelp.

The light was now fading in a cloudy sky, and the dragons raced to get back to the castle.

"So Hiccup!" called Astrid over the sound of the wind, "What exactly happened after you left?"

Hiccup gave her a confused look, then called back, "At the castle! I can't really hear you right now!"

Astrid rolled her eyes and returned her focus to flying. There was no more conversation until they reached the stone castle, now almost black in the moonless night. The gates were shut. They all looked uneasily at each other, then the twins, reckless as they were, flew up over the battlements and into the courtyard. Hiccup shrugged and followed them.

Once inside, they saw how quiet it had become already; the only people to be seen were the sentries pacing the ramparts. They dismounted from the dragons (who then lay down on the soft grass to sleep) and tip-toed inside. Merida led them through the throne room, which was crowded with sleeping vikings, up to the second floor, and to the spare bedrooms. The boys took the larger one and the three girls, Astrid, Rapunzel, and Ruffnut, took another.

Merida just slept in her own room.

'Merida looked around at the dark place. Dark, but not empty. She could almost feel someone next to her. She shivered in the chilly air and wondered who it could possibly be. Or what. "Hello?" she said. Or rather, she tried to, but no sound came. She tried again. Nothing.

She almost wanted to sit down and cry, but she couldn't even move. It was as if she was frozen in ice.

Then, finally, a sound. But it was not what she'd been waiting for, not the comforting voice of her mother, or the raucous laughter of her dad.

A chuckle.

She shivered again, but not with cold this time. Fear gnawed at her, eating away at her courage, sending icy claws through her heart and mind. And still, the heavy darkness surrounded her, pressing inward, suffocating and silent. She could feel it like a tangible thing now, brushing against her arms and ankles. She wanted to cry out, yell, make some kind of noise to break the mind-numbing nothingness around her.

Then a voice, deep and soft, speaking to her, and, though she couldn't make out the words, the very sound of it chilled her bones.

Suddenly, she saw something! "Mum!" she tried to call, then, realizing her voice still didn't work, she tried to reach out to her mother, but she still couldn't move. The light around her mother grew, giving her a warm halo. Then Merida saw something else, something much more sinister. A huge black bear, padding up noiselessly behind her mother.

Merida was no more than an onlooker now, watching helplessly as the creature reared up on it's hind paws . .

and drew a massive paw across her mother's figure, destroying it.

"NOOO!!!!!" '

Merida's eyes were opened wide with horror. "No," she breathed, then saw the familiar walls of her room, the four posts of her bed, and remembered where she was. Tears slid down her face, and she wiped them away thoughtlessly. She was still shivering from the terrible vividness of her nightmare. She curled up into a ball, pulling the blankets up.

"I'm sorry."

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Hey, everyone! I know it's like 10:30 right now, but here's the next chapter (finally). I hope you liked it! :D