Long Live

Chapter 7

Hi, guys! Hope you enjoy this chapter and happy reading!

The next day, everyone got up before the light of dawn. Hiccup happily told them that he had finally figured out the directions of the map.

"It was pretty easy, actually," Hiccup said.

"If it was easy, then why didn't you figure it out in the first place?" Jack muttered to himself, but it must have been loud enough because he got a glare from Elsa and a punch in the shoulder from Hannah.

They started out as soon as everyone got their things packed. They were able to see lots of new landscapes along the way. Everyone marveled at the sight of the mountains and the hills. Rapunzel and Anna even had thrown a squealing fit when they saw a grassy meadow full of vibrant flowers they were passing by.  

Unfortunately though, they had to pass by the lake where they had encountered the sirens. Everyone fell silent and shuddered at the sight of the dreadful lake, careful not to alert the sirens and let the whole catastrophe happen again. But Jack noticed while they were passing by the lake, while everyone was watching the lake with a weary eye, Galaxy didn't even do so much as glance at it.

Has she run into them before? Jack wondered. I don't remember of any news of a knight escaping from sirens before.

As they were walking, they spotted a village. Everything in it was either burned or smashed to smithereens. No one was in sight.

"That's the village Erinoir," Merida said. "It was one of the first villages that got attacked by the Black Dragon."

"Does that mean we're close?" Anna said.

"No. Not by far," Hannah said. "We still have a long way to go."

"The Black Dragon has strange patterns of where it'll attack and when," Hiccup said. "I'm not even sure if you're even supposed to call it a pattern, given how abrupt and surprising the creature attacks."

"You never know when it'll show up," Rapunzel shuddered.

"That makes our mission all the more urgent," Jack said, already walking. "Come on, we don't want to waste any more valuable time."

The day seemed to drag on as the sweltering heat began to beat upon them.

The group wanted to stop and take a break but Jack was stubborn and told them to keep walking. When Anna almost fainted due to the harsh sun, Elsa had enough.

"Jack! We have to stop. Now," Elsa said, cradling Anna in her arms.

Jack ran a hand through his hair. "Elsa, we don't have much time-"

"Forget about the quest for a moment, Jack! Don't you see that we're all exhausted? Before long, we'll all faint like Anna almost did and that will waste much more time than now," Elsa said firmly.

"Elsa we don't have time for argui-"

"But we do have enough time to rest for a bit," Elsa countered.

"Come on, lad. It'll only take half an hour at most," Merida said.

"Yes, Jack please?" Rapunzel said, clasping her hands together.

Jack looked to Hiccup, Hannah, and Galaxy, and the three nodded as well.

"Alright," Jack sighed. "But only for twenty minutes."

The group sighed in relief and went into a shady spot where the trees' cool leaves brushed against their hot faces. They each got out a canteen full of water and drank from it in big huge gulps.