Chapter 16
~ Normal POV ~

While Hiccup was busy with the others, Heather snuck away to report to Eddval. She knocked on his door and he gave her permission to enter.

"Any news?" He asked, his voice hoarse and rough.

Heather smiled slyly and Eddval instantly became interested. "I have, but, it will cost you."

He groaned and sat back in his chair before throwing her a small leather bag of silver toward her.
She grinned down at it greedily.
"Thanks. Now, we have finished our training. Hiccup is planning his escape tonight. The others, they have given their word to help him, as have I, but, mine was not true as theirs was." She muttered as she fingered the bag and the money slipped through her fingers inside it.

Eddval croaked a deep, evil laugh. "Everything is working as I planned. Tonight...Kill him. I have the information I need, he is no longer of use and I shall have my revenge."

Clipping the bag of payment to her belt, Heather poured herself a drink and sat down beside him. "You weren't lying were you when you said it would be me and you against the world, were you."

"Of course not my darling. Why would I lie to a pretty little thing like you, Miss Mackenzie Kirk."

Heather chuckled and stood again, ready to return to her final part of training. "You were right about me...about us. We do share a darkness. It completes us."
Slowly she reached forward and kissed him before leaving for the arena.

~*~*~*~
~ Astrid's POV ~

"We have to ask her." I demanded Gobber as he held Eret and I in the cover of the trees away from Eva and Arianna.

"You can't! Astrid, think about this! Eva is just a child! You can't bring her into this war! Allowing her to come along was one thing, taking her back to a time she wants to forget is another!"

I rolled my eyes impatiently. "Gobber, you have to let us do this. She might hold vital information for saving Hiccup and I will not let that go to waste."

I tried to push past him again but still he held me back. "Astrid, reconsider. You have not been yourself lately, blinded by fear and loneliness. Don't do something you'll regret.
I ask you to think about what Hiccup would do."

I looked Gobber square in the eye and glared. "How dare you. Hiccup would do anything to save me, I have to do likewise."

Gobber glared back at me this time, catching me off guard. "We both know he would and I know you want him home, we all do, but he would never do anything out of anger. Do what you will, but I will take no part in it."

A moment of silence stood between us and Gobber left with his words ringing in my mind.
Eret rested a hand on my shoulder. "Well, go on and ask her."

For a second I wanted to, I really did, but I changed my mind and started walking away.

"Hey! Where are you going?! I thought you said we needed to know if she knew how to get in?" Eret questioned, his face flooded with confusion.

I turned, looked over my shoulder and sighed. "Gobber's right...Hiccup wouldn't...Come' on, we'll figure out another way."

Eret protested still that I shouldn't let Gobber get to me, but I knew deep down that Gobber was speaking the truth.

Eret grabbed my arm and wrenched me around. "This is your husband's life, my friend's, life we're talking about!"

"Do you think I don't know that?!"

"So how do you expect us to break into this armed base of the beast?"

I hesitated and took a deep breath. "I don't know."

"That's not an answer."

"Do you doubt we will get in there without a plan?!" I demanded.

"Yes! People who don't know what they're doing die at the hand of their enemy! How do you think I ended up in Drago's army in the first place?!"

I stopped and stared at Eret, my eyes drifting over his angry expression. "What did Drago do to you, Eret?..." I asked slowly, my words followed by a long and breath-taking pause.

His eyes stayed locked on mine in that intense moment before he let me go and looked away. "Did you think I joined Drago's army for fun? Some did, but me, no. Drago sieged my island, my home, far away from here in Sami. He gave us a choice, he said he was a man of the people and he would protect us from dragons if we joined him or we would die. Some joined, others stood their ground like I and my younger brother, Ruben. We had no choice, my father had died when we were young and our mother needed us to stay with her. But at our choice, Drago plucked me from the group of us who had decided to stay and specifically asked, as I was young and strong, that I would go with him as captain of his ship. I refused, I was seventeen and I was scared of this guy, it took guts to refuse and it cost me." Eret paused again and lifted the heel of his pants to show me his ankle. A chunk of flesh and bone was missing from his leg and it was badly twisted and had healed awkwardly.

I took a step back with a gasp. "That's a-"

"-A dragon bite. I know. Drago took my fifteen year old brother because he was stood close to me and when I reached out to stop him, Drago knew I treasured this boy. A grin crept up his wretched face, I can still see that look in his eyes, a hatred stronger than any good left in him. In that moment he said, 'you can stay, if you can save him'."

Tears gathered in Eret's eyes and he flopped down on a rock as his legs literally couldn't bear the burden of his words.

"With that, he threw my brother to the dragons. I ran to save him but the dragons, they surrounded him like a cage and my name was the last thing Ruben called out before he fell silent as the dragons tore him limb from limb. I never saved him so Drago took me aboard his ship. I never got to say goodbye to my mother, I let my brother die! I couldn't save him..."

I dropped to my knees in front of the retired dragon trapper and rested a hand on either side of his face. "You were just a teenager Eret...You can't blame yourself. You were just trying to protect him."

"But I do, every day, I wonder what might of happened if I had saved him..." He whimpered, a tear slipping over his cheek as he spoke.

I gently wiped it away with my thumb. "Don't let it destroy you, it's not fair on you, or your brother." I warned, my throat closing up as I witnessed his pain.

Eret gathered his bearing and inhaled strongly, his voice trembling like a falling tower. "I will avenge Ruben's life, Astrid. No matter what it takes. This is my last chance now Drago is dead. Eddval will pay for his brother's actions."

"You're prepared to kill for revenge?" I asked, glad to finally know Eret's reasons for his strongholds.

"A life for a life, that's what Drago taught me. If any of his teachings were useful, it was that one."

I took a step forward and frowned up at my friend. "Eret, is this the reason you came along on this attack? Berk relies on defence not offence, that's Hiccup's way and you said you liked it. Something's telling me this is your plan no matter what information I find out for a rescue, you're going in for the kill." I mused, not expecting a reply.

"I knew you had intuition from the moment we met. You're not like the others Astrid, you and Hiccup, you stand out. Hiccup's has the mind, you have the execution. You make a good team." He complemented with a weak half-smile.

"Eret you're part of that team now, everyone on Berk is. We're dragon riders. Nobody's alone. You don't have to do this, you can just walk away when the time comes. Don't let it define you." I sighed, squeezing his hand to gain reassurance for the both of us.

Eret pulled away from me and clenched his fists, his voice lowering with his anger. "You sound just like Ruben."

"I sound like Hiccup, he told me that once."

"Exactly. Hiccup is a living reminder of my brother, he's the same age, the same build, he's wise beyond words and smarter than smart. I can't live with a guy like Hiccup and not think every day of the vengeance that drove me to this tipping point in the first place. I will kill Eddval, and I will end the lives of the men who took everything away from me!"

"Murder won't satisfy the grief." I snapped back.

"But it will hide it."

He had a valid point and I understood him immensely. "But hidden or not it still resides in you. Now I'm asking you the same question, would Ruben want you to do this out of anger or would he want you to turn around and walk away from this?" I asked, laying upon him the cruel irony.

"I couldn't help over-hearing, are you plotting to kill Eddval?" asked Solomon as he walked out from the trees and made both of us jump with fright.

"Were you eaves-dropping?! You little son of a-" he started but I ran out in front of Eret son of Eret and held him back, just about.

"Whoa! I didn't come to stop you! I was actually sent here, by Gobber and Olaf. He came up to me and said that you needed me. I didn't know what for, he just said you knew...Astrid?" gasped Solomon, throwing his hands in the air in mock surrender.

I stared at him for a moment as Gobber's reasons hit me like a tidal wave of realisation.

"I never thought of asking you...!" I breathed, as a plan formulated in my head.

"Asking me what?" questioned Solomon, worry and excitement in his voice.

A smile found its way onto my face for the first time in a while and I squinted mysteriously at him. "You wouldn't happen to know a way into the Granite Skull would you?"

~*~*~*~

It seemed Gobber had been right about Eva, she would have instantly shut down and said nothing about her time in the Granite Skull as it was difficult enough to get things out of Solomon.
He hesitated at every question and paused on his every answer.
It got to the point where I was giving up hope of a plan on getting in until Solomon finally revealed something useful.

"Actually...," He thought, glancing nervously at all the anticipated faces around him. "T-there is one...no it's too dangerous."

Gobber rested a hand on Solomon's shoulder. I think really he wanted to crush him as Vikings do, but he didn't, he just smiled lop-sidedly.
"You can tell us lad, it's alright."

Solomon looked around all the faces for a moment before sighing in defeat. "Back home on Berkwick, my father was a miner...he was the wrangler for the whispering deaths and he mapped out all of the tunnels under the island, then he would guide the deaths using...inhumane strategies.
No offense on your touchy thing but that didn't work anywhere but Berk when I was younger. I used to go down the tunnels with him and carry coal back to the surface for the furnaces...I can't help you on the top because the landmass has changed so much that it would be unrecognisable in places, but underground, I can get you in."

Olaf interrupted before anyone could say a word. "No Sol! Those tunnels have been derelict for years! They'll be flooded and tumbling down at this very moment, you could all be buried alive before you even reached the surface!"

"That's it..." I whispered, ignoring Olaf completely without realisation.

"What's what?" asked Gobber in confusion.

"The tunnels...they're whispering death tunnels right?"

"Right...?" Muttered Solomon, not following me.

"Maybe we can take Eddval down from the inside. If we can get under the Skull, we can make the tunnels collapse and still get out in time. Eddval's army will be in confusion, people will be falling underground, dragons will be loose, warriors useless, Eddval won't even see us coming." I explained, my arms waving for emphasis.

Oh no. I'm doing the extravagant Hiccup arm thing! I really need to get him back and stop playing active-chief, it's having a really bad effect on me! I thought to myself.

Eret propped himself up on his elbow and scrunched his eyebrows up in thought. "But what about Hiccup, won't he go down with them?"

I nodded slowly and took a deep breath. "We just have to trust he'll be okay..."

An awkward silence gripped us all like a fist around a neck as it strangled the atmosphere.

"Alright...Draw us a map, Sol, we engage, tonight."

~*~*~*~

Sorry it's such a late update! I've been very busy. I hope you enjoyed it! What did you think about Eddval and Heather? What about Astrid and Eret's friendship? Do you think while Hiccup's been gone their friendship has become stronger and maybe more intimate? What about Solomon? Do you think his plan will work? The plan also puts Hiccup's life on the line, is that wise? Anyway, I'll update soon.

Thanks again,

~ Httyd_2014 <3