Outcasts, Chapter 5: Reunion

Hiccup's eyes flew open, and bolted into a sitting position, gulping down the freezing night air until it burned his throat and lungs. A wave of pain crashed through his brain, leaving it pounding terribly. Clutching at his head with both hands, Hiccup squeezed his eyes shut and would have groaned, but he was too out of breath. He felt like someone had been cutting off his air, choking him. When his breathing steady, Hiccup slumped and blearily opened his eyes. It was still dark, but the cat claw of a moon was setting. A light rain must have passed when he slept, for his clothes were soaked. He shivered in the darkness.

The dream flashed through his mind. Something, someone had been calling to him. But who? Could it have been... Toothless? No, it couldn't have been, Toothless couldn't talk. Besides, it was just a dream. Not real. And yet with all the strange things that had been happening lately...

"I just don't know what's real anymore," Hiccup groaned, buring his face in his hands. A long, mournful howl rippled across the silence, the sound making Hiccup feel even more miserable. "I just don't know what to do," he whispered.

Just then, blue light shot out of the ground in front of him, spearing the night sky with its beams. Hiccup yelled, shielding his eyes from the blinding light, and scrambled backwards. He shot behind a tree and covered his head with his arms, wondering if the ground around him was going to explode. Hiccup waited until the light died down, then cautiously lifted his head. Brilliant lights were still dancing before his eyes, blinding him, so he felt along the ground with his hands. Soon Hiccup's fingers closed over a small tree branch, and he rose to his feet, holding it shakily out in front of him.

The sound of snorting. Hiccup blinked, trying to get used to the darkness that had once more blanketed everything. Then...

"Spirit?!"

The mustang sprang to his feet, head swinging back and forth. Then his eyes fell on Hiccup, and he neighed loudly, rearing up into the air and whinnying. Hiccup dropped the stick and ran forward, throwing his arms around the stallion's neck, and hugging him tightly.

"Oh man, it's been too long," he whispered to Spirit, as the stallion nipped at his hair playfully.

Hiccup felt a nudge against his back and turned to see Rain, the white patches of her coat shimmering slightly. She nuzzled him gently, then her eyes widened. Spirit did the same, glancing over him uneasily.

What... happened to you? he asked quietly. You don't look so good.

Hiccup looked down at his hands and even in the darkness he could see they were badly scratched and bruised. He rubbed a hand over his face and yelped, jerking it away again. "Ouch..." he muttered, feeling his fingers grow slightly wet as he pressed them to his forehead. He looked up at the two horses, wiping his fingers on his tunic and sighed. "It's a long story. How did you two get here?"

Spirit pawed the ground slightly. I don't know. I was walking along and suddenly a portal appears! Rain grabbed onto my mane and, well, here we are. He paused for a moment, then added softly, It was so dark in there. It felt like we were in there a long time. Spirit shook his head, his long mane flipping from one side to the other. I didn't create that portal. Someone, or something else did.

"Well, uh, I guess then you should probably get back soon, so your herd doesn't wonder where you are. They probably need you," Hiccup muttered. As much as he wished Spirit could help him, the stallion has his own problems, his own life, his own world.

Heh, I'm not leaving until you tell me what's going on. Spirit rolled his eyes, but turned and coughed, his head dropping slightly. Rain came up to Hiccup and blew on his hands, as if to say, Well, we're here now, we can stay a while.

"People have been disappearing lately," Hiccup began, and told them everything that had happened so far, his nightmares, the sand horses, his father's disappearance, Toothless...

"Something's happened to them, I don't know what," Hiccup told them, spreading his hands. "I... I have to find out what. There has to be a connection between it all."

You're grasping at straws, a quiet voice inside Hiccup told him. You just don't want to accept the fact Toothless might be... Hiccup clamped down on the thought, refusing to finish it. "We have to get them back."

Well, then, we're going to help you, Spirit said, and Rain nodded, nickering quietly.

When morning finally came, the dark hole was revealed to be a crevice sliced through the ground. Hiccup, Spirit and Rain saw no sign of Toothless, no indication that a dragon had passed by. But he couldn't have fallen through the crevice, it was too narrow. At least, that was what Hiccup told himself. As they looked, Spirit spotted a trail of black sand leading away from the crevice, and they decided to see where it led. Since Hiccup was aching all over, Spirit gave him a lift, and they descended the mountain, following the black sand.

About an hour or two later, they reached a ledge, the trail abruptly stopping. Hiccup looked up and his eyes widened.

"Wow," he gulped. "I've never seen anything like it."

Me neither, Spirit snorted, and Hiccup felt him shifting his weight back and forth, the stallion's body tensing. Rain, however, looked interested, pricking her ears and peering out over the ledge, the wind tossing her mane gently.

Spread out below them was a small kingdom. A fjord cut through the cliffs, flooding into a lake surrounded by mountains. Houses lay clustered near the bottom of the mountain, and a village lay at its banks. But what was most interesting was the castle. It was located on an island of sorts near the village, with a bridge from the mainland leading to its gates.

"The people there might know something. " Hiccup told the horses, sliding off Spirit's back. "I should go down there and check it out."

Spirit glanced over at him, shaking his head. One of us- we should come with you. We have no idea what it's like down there, what kind of people- it'd just be safer, he said haltingly.

"I'll be fine," Hiccup reassured him, placing a hand on Spirit's shoulder. "I know it'd be torture for you, and Rain, with her coloring, she's just too conspicuous. I'll be back by sundown, and if I'm not, then you can come tearing down the mountain to rescue me."