I'm Leaving Forever (a HTTYD Runaway Fanfic ~ Book 1)

24 - Rescued

Snotlout followed Zilpah to the exit of the room that once held him prisoner and she quickly opened the door, careful that it didn't rebound off the wall behind it to create a cacophony. She allowed Snotlout to go through first, and the rider was instantly faced with a corridor and as he stuck his head out, Snotlout figured that this was quite a long corridor. The walls made from large, regular blocks of scratched and scarred, yet sturdy marble. The roof was flat, made from sheets of metal nailed together, which were presumably incredibly thick and dense, considering it was the roof, but there was no way of truly knowing. And just below the metal roof, lit torches were positioned in out-stretched, blackened metal holders, their flames just grazing the roof above that kept them contained. The fire they had casted a dim light upon the corridor, tinting everything a golden amber. 

But, Snotlout immediately broke his observant eye away from the corridor and, though he hated it soon after, physically jumped at the sound of a door closing behind him, his head snapping around so fast, that he was at a danger of snapping his own neck. True, it was quieter than what he was used to hearing, but as this was an escape that required the utmost stealth, he recoiled at the volume.

"I thought this was supposed to be an escape," he whispered, making Zilpah pause in her tracks, "not a try get us captured mission,"

"I've already dealt with the guards," she responded, "there's a good enough chance no one will hear us," And with that, Zilpah turned left and continued onwards with a slightly disgruntled Snotlout following on close behind her.  And very soon, Snotlout got a good idea of what Zilpah meant when she said Ive already dealt with the guards, and it was a sight that almost made him yelp.

The guards that Snotlout guessed, were once standing vigilant at their stations, weapons out ready for a threat, were now on the floor, slumped against the wall in a haphazard fashion. A dark, gleaming liquid that could only be blood had spilled out from huge, fatal wounds on the recently dead corpses, creating a puddle that was drying up and cracking. The walls, around a metre up from the floor were also stained dark with blood and drops of it of all sizes were scattered everywhere. Even on the path Snotlout had to walk down. There was even one body which looked like it had been attacked from the back. It was facing down, so the face was concealed, but the wound had been inflicted on the back on the neck, right where the spine would be. Had that man survived, he would've been permanently paralyzed. The sight made Snotlout shudder. 

Then he remembered. The person that did all of this was right in front of him. Leading him to his escape. Snotlout was unnerved to think that Zilpah could do all this and just walk through it without a problem, although, he couldn't make that kind of assumption without seeing her face. He just hoped that she wasn't as unbothered by all the dead bodies as he thought. 

The two of them made their way down the dimly lit corridor quietly, carefully avoiding kicking anything that had scattered into their path. Zilpah had told Snotlout that she had only dealt with the guards in this corridor; no one else, so once they leave it behind, they'd have to be more cautious. And it didn't take that long for them to get to that point. In what was probably five or so minutes, Snotlout and Zilpah reached another locked metal door. Thankfully, Zilpah had the key for it, so they were out of there in no time.

Snotlout found that it took quite some time for them to reach their dragons, presuming that Zilpah was taking him to the dragons and wasn't leading him to his death. He had followed her down a few relatively short corridors and out of more locked doors than he had the effort to count. He was sure they had even ventured outside a few times, judging from some irregular temperature drops that wouldnt normally happen inside a building or structure. The two had also encountered some guards along the way, but Zilpah took care of them with such speed that it was almost frightening. She had to make sure Snotlout kept silent every time they were spotted by some guards, mainly because he would always have quite over-the-top reactions. At least, that was what she thought. It was probably normal for him to be this eccentric, but she still didn't know how Hiccup managed to find this one.