HTLANF: Hidden World

Chapter 9

Grimmel waited for the warlords in the now abandoned village of Berk upon the steps of the Great Hall. He sat patiently on the steps as the warlords made their way up to him.

"So? Where are they?!" Chaghatai asked as he gestured around them irritatedly.

"Gone. Obviously." Grimmel said nonchalantly as he stood from his spot.

"The Night Fury escaped you? Again!" Griselda asked, quite amused that Grimmel was struggling to kill one measly dragon.

"I encouraged it. They've abandoned their only defensible position." Grimmel explained. "Running scared with what little they can carry."

The three warlords gave the hunter skeptical looks and he smiled.

"Don't fret. They won't get far. The Night Fury is distracted. I introduced him to your female. Furies mate for life, you see."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes. But where did they go?" Ragnar asked with his arms crossed.

Grimmel sighed and ran a hand down his face. "Do I have to explain this? Night Furies can't survive in the cold so they haven't gone north." Grimmel explained as he used the warlords' map as reference in his explanation by crossing off the north section of the map.

"They're trying to put distance between themselves and enemies to the east and south..." He proceeded to cross off the east and south sections of the map. "...And Night Furies cannot fly long distances without rest. Their flight path must include stops. Therefore, they've gone...They can only have gone...Does anyone want to take a guess?"

None of the warlords spoke up as Grimmel was hoping.

"Anyone?" He asked again. "W-w-w-w-w?" He encouraged and Ragnar finally took the bait.

"Ah! East!" He said as he placed a wooden boat on the east side of the map.

"West!" Grimmel corrected as he put the boat on the west side of the map. "Hmm? Simple, you see? Oh-ho, isn't this fun? Yes? No."

"Ugh." Griselda groaned out as she pushed Ragnar out of her way and stormed off.

"Yes. Yes." Grimmel said and that made Chaghatai walk away in disappointment.

"Where's your love for the hunt?" Grimmel asked as the two warlords walked off. "I thought you were conquerors! You'll have your prize, in time! Just allow me a few more days to enjoy this. I have dearly missed it."

~~~HTLANF~~~

As Grimmel and the warlords conversed on Berk, the Berkians were a good distance away from their old home as they flew in search of the Hidden World.

Valka was leading the tribe with her son and soon to be daughter-in-law by her side to help. Kala had the spyglass Hiccup made her out, trying to see if she could find any sign of the Hidden World as they flew.

Gobber then steered Grump towards the chieftess and the young Night Furies. "I feel like I'm always asking this question but-whoa!" He got cut off as Grump fell asleep and began to plummet. "Wake up, Grump! Wake up!" Gobber yelled as he got his dragon to wake once more and gained control again to get back up to the same elevation as the others. "Is there an actual plan or–"

"Just keep flying until we reach the end of the world." Valka said with determination and Kala nodded as she lowered her spyglass.

"Yeah, just flying until we find where we're going." The female Night Fury agreed.

"Ah, seems sensible." Gobber said sarcastically.

"Ugh. It just keeps going." Snotlout complained from boredom.

"That's because the world is actually round." Tuffnut said as-a-matter-of-factly.

Hiccup and Kala rolled their eyes at Tuffnut's words then Kala went back to looking through her spyglass.

"The Sun is round. Moon is round." Tuffnut went on, which earned chuckles from Nanna and Heather as Nanna shook her head. "Stars are round. Even though they're small and stupid."

Ruffnut laughed at that.

"Right? Stars." Tuffnut agreed.

Hiccup and Kala tuned them out as they sensed something, which got Kala to put away her spyglass as the both of them looked at one another then looked about the sky for what they were sensing.

"You guys okay?" Heather asked as she steered Windshear closer to the Night Furies.

Nanna then gasped when she saw a white dragon come into view. "The Light Fury!"

"She's followed us!" Valka said joyously.

"Cool!" A random Viking said in awe as the tribe took in the Light Fury's appearance.

The dragoness then shot a plasma blast and flew through it to become invisible.

"Would you look at that!" Gobber breathed out in awe at the display.

"Where did she go? Is she made of sky?" Tuffnut asked as he looked about frantically for the dragon.

Kala's grip on Hiccup's saddle tightened as Hiccup flew towards where the Light Fury disappeared and they looked around curiously in all directions for her. Kala then looked behind them and smiled when she saw the dragoness.

"Well, look who it is!" She said excitedly, but that excitement vanished as she noticed the Light Fury was preparing to grab her. "Uh..."

Hiccup looked in the same direction just in time to witness the dragoness snatch Kala off his back and he screeched in surprise at the same time Kala did.

Kala clung onto the Light Fury's leg as she tried to not fall. "Aah! Hey. It's really nice to finally talk to–"

The dragoness then threw Kala away from everyone and she fell quickly, screaming.

The Light Fury looked at Hiccup and smiled. "There. No more human to worry over."

Hiccup smiled at her sheepishly, not wanting to come off as rude like last time, then he quickly flew after his mate and caught her by flying directly under her. Kala bit her lip to keep from wincing as her chest ached from the impact, but she relaxed against Hiccup nonetheless as she tried to calm down from the startle.

The Light Fury watched the rescue in shock, then huffed and disappeared once more.

Hiccup flew in place for a little to give Kala time to calm down and situate herself on his back once more. He crooned worriedly and nudged her hand and she smiled and scratched behind his earplate in response.

"I'm alright my love..just wasn't expecting to be yanked off your back like that.."

"Is–"

"Yes Hiccup..it's alright.." Kala reassured as she looked up and gave him a smile. "I don't think getting tossed in the air did anything.."

Hiccup nodded and nudged her hand once more, which made her smile as she fixed her positioning on his back to properly sit in the saddle once more. When she was properly secured to the saddle, Hiccup flew back to the others and took his place beside Cloudjumper.

"Not. A. Word." Kala warned.

Everyone kept quiet, not wanting to get on her bad side, or her mate's.

~~~HTLANF~~~