Moon Fire

Chapter 6

"Who is planning the rebellion?" Magnus shouted, his grip on the mace tightening.

Hiccup ground his teeth together, turning away from the jailer as much as he could. The idea of telling Magnus he didn't know—a lie, if you recall Astrid first telling him that her father was thinking about rebelling—came too late. The only answer Magnus would take now was a name. And it couldn't be a made-up name, either. Magnus knew every single person in Berk by name, face, address, favorite color, etc.. Hiccup's only options were to either tell the truth—which really wasn't an option—or die, which was quickly becoming a very likely possibility. Frankly, Hiccup didn't want anything to do with either, but if there was no good choice, best to pick the lesser of two evils, right?

Now if only he could just get there. . . .

Magnus slammed the mace into Hiccup's body again, forcing out a cry of pain. "You answer me when I talk to you, boy. Who's planning the rebellion? When is it going to happen?"

That was something Hiccup truly didn't know. Last he'd heard about it, Gobber had told him the villagers had everything settled except for the when of the whole thing.

Magnus' hand gripped his throat, lifting him off the ground. Hiccup tried to scream, but his lungs were stuck in neutral, unable to either pull in air or push it out. The jailer's glare seared into him, burning with an almost demonic ferocity that Hiccup had never seen before. "I still remember you talking to Miss Hofferson that morning. It would seem strange if she told you what was getting ready to happen and she wasn't involved somehow. Perhaps, since you're being so stubborn, I should go back to Berk and ask her."

Hiccup's heart stopped. He thought Astrid was safe, that the potential wrath of her clan would be enough to keep Magnus at bay! But as he stared into the jailer's glittering eyes, he realized that even if he didn't break, Magnus would return to Berk and go after Astrid, torture her if he had the chance. And then, once he was done with her, the rest of Berk was next.

"You can't kill off the entire village," Hiccup said. "Even an acting-chief needs people to lead."

Magnus' face contorted with rage and he dropped his prisoner, swung the mace again, landing squarely on Hiccup's injured shoulder. Two screams split the air, one in pain, the other in fury. Magnus hefted the mace at least five more times before pausing and picking him back up in another valiant effort to strangle him. "I am the chief of Berk! I am, you hear me?!"

Hiccup's ears were ringing and his head throbbed; he barely heard what the jailer was saying. He shook his head, more in an effort to relieve the pressure on his throat than disagree with Magnus.

Unfortunately, Magnus took it the wrong way. His eyes narrowed and he tightened his grip. Hiccup choked but kept going. "My father never gave you the throne. You've never been chief." The raspy croak his voice had become terrified him.

"Your father is dead and gone, you worm!" Magnus bellowed in rage. "I AM THE CHIEF!" With that, he let his prisoner fall, then swung the mace once more, delivering a solid blow to the chest. Hiccup screamed, a long, lost, piercing sound. He tried to roll away, but he felt something shift inside—broken collarbone, most likely—and the pain doubled upon itself, leaving him stunned and paralyzed. He shut his eyes, his overwhelmed brain thinking that maybe if he played dead, or at least close to it, Magnus would leave him alone.

This was not the case.

Letting out one more roar of pure, unparalleled wrath, Magnus picked him up and threw him across the clearing, just missing the campfire. The jailer stalked over and threw him again. His head slammed into a tree trunk and as he hit the ground, the world spun and tilted in alarming ways. A strange black hole opened up on the ground near him, as black as the skin of the Night Fury who had saved him. He stared into it, watching the hole widen, edging constantly toward him. His brain couldn't process fear anymore; he already had enough to deal with with Magnus.