The Arcane Evil (httyd-fic)

Chapter 2

That night the knights hastened their return to Haleah, the capital of Thellone. Their horses panted as they hurried into the palace with the grimoire to present to their King.

A fire burned brightly in a room where the king and two others were discussing their plans. A rapid knock on the door caught their attention.

"Enter" King Madine said in a commanding voice.

The door opened and a party of knights entered holding the book out for their king. "Your Highness, we have managed to acquire the grimoire of the evil Queen." One of the knights stated handing the book to their pleased king. "There is however another matter to discuss your Highness."

It was then that the king noticed that their captain was absent. "Where is your captain men. He should be here for this glorious moment."

"He is dead your Highness." The knight stated solemnly as the others bowed their heads slightly out of respect.

"The Queen killed him?" King Madine asked in a serious voice.

"No your Highness. A man coming to the Queen's aid did." The knight answered. "He knew who she was and did not seem to care."

This news elicited gasps from the two other occupants. "Why would anyone willingly help that demon while knowing who she is?!" King Andrex of Barione asked aghast.

"They must be crazy or at least have a death wish." King Mardu of Enoth exclaimed.

"Do not fear gentlemen." King Madine assured. "Our plans continue now that we have the grimoire." The King then tried to open the book but the cover wouldn't budge.

The king tried and tried but to no avail. The others had even helped him but they could not get the book open. "What sorcery is this!" King Andrex exclaimed. "We all saw that woman open this book in Castow."

"She must have a spell on it! Send for a cleric!" King Madine commanded as a servant scampered out. It did not take long for a cleric to come and after bowing deeply to the kings did he turn to the grimoire.

"There is dark magic emanating from that book." The cleric stated stepping closer to inspect the grimoire.

"Can you remove it cleric?" King Madine asked.

"Why would you ask that of me?!" The cleric exclaimed. "This book reeks of forbidden magic!"

"It may be the only way to rid the world of the darkness and restore our great teacher." The King stated sincerely causing the cleric to go wide-eyed.

The cleric took another hard look at the grimoire before sighing. "That may be your Highness but no cleric can remove such a complex blood ward."

"A blood ward?" King Mardu now asked.

"It is dark magic. The only person who can open this book is the one who casted the spell over it. The blood ward can however be removed if we had the blood of the caster available." The cleric explained. "It is fascinating though." The cleric then said. "I had not thought any dark practitioner to be able to weave such a complex lock. This level of magic is beyond the abilities of simple clerics such as I. A high master would have to be the one to reverse this spell."

The cleric bowed once more and exited the room. It was then that the king turned to his knights. "Send word to all the kingdoms! I want the Dark Queen captured, if not, I want her dead and her head be presented to me!! Those who capture her will receive her weight in gold!!"

"Yes your Highness!!" The knights said while bowed and left to spread the news.

It was early that morning that Haleah was abuzz with the new gossip. Messengers had been sent out to all the neighboring kingdoms and wanted posters had been hung in the city that night. Two knights raced through the city towards the cleric's tower and banged on the door. Once they were let inside they proceeded to race up the stairs. When the two knights reached their destination they loudly banged the door open startling the room's occupant.

"Can't you guys knock normally?" The cleric inside stated looking exasperated at the duo. "You'll give me a heart attack one of these days."

"Have you heard the news!" The slimmer of the knight said completely ignoring the question before. "There is a reward out for the capture of the Dark Queen."

"I've heard and I'd like to stay out of it." The cleric said.

"Come on Fishlegs, don't be such baby." The other knight stated.

"I'm not being a baby Snotlout." Fishlegs said. "I'm being practical. You are obviously planning on trying to capture the Queen in your mad quest for fame where at some point you will be turned into a slimy frog. Tangling with a magic wielder as powerful as the Dark Queen is asking for trouble."

Snotlout gave Fishlegs a mock look of shock. "Come on Fishlegs. Don't you want the reward?" This caused Fishlegs to frown. "You'll finally be able to buy an engagement ring for your love and a cottage where you two can live happily."

Fishlegs groaned at Snotlout's reasoning. He did have a point as Fishlegs really did want to ask the girl of his dreams to finally marry him. "Fine. I'm in." Fishlegs reluctantly stated. "I'm assuming your twin sister is coming along as well Tuffnut."

"Why of course good sir. She would clobber me with a mace if I did not take her with us." Tuffnut said dramatically. "And we may need Ruffnut. For some reason she always seems to know the right direction that we must head in."

"Which is creepy in itself that that woman hasn't been wrong yet." Snotlout mumbled.

"Don't let my sister hear you say that or she will bury you alive again." Tuffnut stated causing Snotlout to groan and Fishlegs to stifle a giggle.

The party decided to meet in front of the city gate for their departure. Snotlout and Fishlegs had already arrived and were simply waiting for the twins. They finally spotted them and Ruffnut gave a wave.

"What took you so long?" Snotlout asked.

"I had to stop my sister from killing a merchant with a loaf of bread." Tuffnut stated.

"And I had to stop my brother from killing the same merchant with a pumpkin." Ruffnut replied to which Fishlegs and Snotlout raised an eyebrow.

"What did that merchant do to deserve the wrath of the Thornston twins?" Fishlegs asked quietly as the twins antics were well known in the city.

"That merchant tried to cheat my sister on our supplies and then he proceeded to insult her honor." Tuffnut said. "He got what he deserved."

"Now then. Shall we be off?" Ruffnut asked eagerly. "I have a feeling that this shall be interesting."

"Yes we can, but we need a direction first." Snotlout said and then looked at Ruffnut. "I don't know how you do it but just do it."

Ruffnut nodded and then looked around the area. She kept looking and then stopped and then pointed in a particular direction. "That way." Was all that Ruffnut said as she mounted her horse.

"Let's go!" Snotlout shouted as they followed behind Ruffnut on horseback.