Little Miracles

A Dark Secret

Chapter Eight: A Dark Secret

Hiccup and Astrid stared at each other, identical expressions of abject terror on their faces. Dagur had been right. The Berserkers were framed and the real kidnapper had started her sick little game while they had been distracted. And what was this about their little girl in the note, obviously proving that she had, in fact, been the intended target after all? Was all of it a plan?

Quite suddenly, Hiccup felt a surge of rage build up inside his chest, and it was all he could do to not start throwing things. While he was off trying to convict Dagur of a heinous crime, this psychopath had a complete run of the village. She could have walked his baby right through Berk and no one would have noticed because the only people who stayed on the island were in the Great Hall watching Finn. He was a fool. He had been played. And there was no other way around it.

"She's clever." he muttered, his hand gripping the note more tightly than necessary to keep from shaking. "Very good plan, distracts everyone while she plays a sick and twisted game... she's insane and she's clever."

"Who?"

The young couple turned around to face Fishlegs, Ruffnut, and Tuffnut, who seemed to have walked up while they were distracted.

"Whoever wrote this note. Whoever took Adrianna." Astrid said in monotone, taking the note from Hiccup's hand and giving it to the other couple.

"Well that's a terrible poem. Heroic doesn't rhyme with bit!" Tuffnut exclaimed, smacking the paper with the back of his hand.

"I think the ellipsis means we have to fill the rest of the poem in ourselves." Fishlegs said, his brow furrowed.

"Wait, we have to wait until night? Or did she draw the eclipses on the paper?" Tuffnut asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Not eclipses, ellipsis! It means the... here!" Fishlegs pointed to the incomplete sentence. "See how there are three periods? It trails off! I think we have to fill it in with a rhyme."

Ruffnut's mouth opened a bit as she read the paper. "What rhymes with heroic?"

"Bloic? Toic?" Tuffnut piped up.

"Actually I'm pretty sure it's..."

"Throic?" Ruffnut added, grabbing a rock on the ground and pitching it at her brother. "If that's the answer, I already like this game."

"This is not a game!" Hiccup bellowed, making everyone jump. "Adrianna's life is at stake!"

"Right, right, sorry." Ruffnut looked properly chastised. She then turned to Tuffnut, an expression of inspiration dawning on her face. "Maybe we should ask Stoick. He probably knows more words than we do."

"That's what I was trying to say!" Fishlegs said, sounding quite irritated. "The answer is obviously Stoick! Seek out one who is wise if not just a little bit stoic! It's a play on words!"

It should have been very easy to figure out but in their panic, neither Hiccup nor Astrid had been able to come up with the answer. Now that it was given to them, they wondered how they had managed to miss it.

"Brilliant, Fishlegs!" Hiccup exclaimed, patting his friend on the back. "We've got to find my dad!"

They tried to pick up the hourglass to show the chief but it was stuck to the ground. No amount of pulling could loosen it. Abandoning that task, they sprinted off to find the chief, looking in various places he frequented. They finally found him in Gobber's workshop, several weapons already attached to his belt. He looked up as they approached.