686Chapter 14: Into The Wild
Into The Wild
Hiccup rolled over in bed, roughly swatting away the hand on his shoulder.
"Mister Haddock, wake up! We are leaving soon," Sam whispered.
Sure enough, the Hobbits were all packed and would be ready to leave after breakfast.
He, however, was not. It was very warm under the covers.
Ugh, come on...
Still, he knew the wisdom of leaving before dawn. It was more likely they and especially Toothless could leave without being seen and followed.
He reluctantly rolled out of bed, put on his traveling cloak, and followed the Hobbits downstairs. They were the only people awake except for the attendant. They ate in silence a quick breakfast of hard bread, which the Hobbits were not impressed with.
"What's breakfast without bacon?" Pippin groaned.
"A disaster and an affront to breakfast itself," Merry answered.
"I'll agree that I miss the bacon," Hiccup agreed as he chewed on the bread.
Frodo and Sam were oddly silent as they ate.
Strider shortly joined them, sitting down at the same table. He looked as rough as always, almost as though he had slept in the same gear he always wore, which he probably had. His hair was very unkempt.
"Good morning," Merry yawned.
"I hope it will be. Haddock, a word with you," Strider whispered.
"Yes?"
"Would your friend be willing to carry supplies for us? I would suggest we get a pony in addition to my horse, but that may not be needed. I would not presume to treat him as a beast of burden," Strider mildly explained.
"I can't think why he wouldn't carry some more."
"Would you please ask him?"
Hiccup nodded, got up from the table, went straight to the stable, and let himself inside. Toothless was still coiled up on the ground in the same place, his head under his wing.
Hiccup paused before reaching out to gently stroke the wing.
He remembered seeing Toothless's eyes narrowed to slits and his lips just slightly curled. It had only been for an instant, but that instant had been far too long.
Something was definitely wrong with his best friend, and he had no idea how to help him without knowing what that problem was. Toothless's words about feeling strange when around gold were definitely worrying.
Would reaching out to touch him as he had many times before cost him an arm this time? Worse? Would Toothless wildly turn on him and try to hurt him, whether intentionally or unintentionally?
He banished the thought and put a palm on the wingskin, gently rubbing circles.
"Toothless..." he whispered.
Toothless stirred and shuffled in place, slowly bringing his head out from under the wing. His eyes were wide and blinking furiously to rid himself of sleepiness.
"How did you sleep?" Hiccup softly asked.
Toothless yawned toothlessly.
"Well enough. No bad dreams that time..." Toothless purred as he got to his feet.
"Good to hear. We are about ready to leave Bree."
Toothless held himself still as Hiccup put the ropes and saddle on his back. They could irritate his hide if worn for too long, especially if they were wet as they had been yesterday.
"Strider wanted me to ask if you would be willing to carry some more packs of supplies?"
"Yes, of course I will."
Hiccup then put a palm on Toothless's cheek.
"Are you... alright, bud? Honestly."
Toothless sighed and ruffled his wings.
"Yes, I just wish I knew what was... wrong with me..."
"I'm not sure I'd say that anything is... wrong with you," Hiccup grumbled while looking away.
He knew that he was not being entirely honest with himself or with Toothless.
"I'll be right back with everyone."
Toothless settled down to wait until Hiccup returned with the Hobbits and Strider. It was still dark because the sun had not yet risen, but he could see well.
His rest had been dreamless with no bad-thinking hunting his peace. There had been no seeing himself fighting against and killing many humans who turned out to be Hiccup.
The thought of escaping into the wild was definitely comforting. The wild outside of human cities was what he knew well and could best survive in.
I could do with some true hunting.
Even as he thought about that, he realized that there was also an appeal to living in human cities. Cities had distinct advantages over the wild, mostly in the certainty of there being food and good company.
I never thought I'd want to be in human city-nests...
He eventually heard people approaching outside his temporary den.
Hiccup returned by opening wide the main door and then coming over to hold his head.
"Hey bud, will you go and hop outside the wall? We will meet you out there."
He wasted no time, bounding out of the den, keeping himself low to the ground and hidden, and easily jumped the wall with a flap of his wings.
Hiccup, the four Hobbits, and Strider with his horse proceeded to the front gates, which were ominously broken open. The guard stopped them.
"Oye, what'cho going out there for?"
"That is our business," Strider answered.
"Well, I feel I should warn ya. There're strange folk out there. Did ya hear what happen'd at night?"
Strider crossed his arms on his chest.
"I know that the alarm was raised."
The guard furiously nodded.
"Big, hooded folk on dark horses, black riders everyone's calling them. Showed up well after midnight and asked to be let inside... in the name of M... Mor... Mordor..." the guard stuttered.
"What happened?" Strider asked.
"We wasn't going ta let them in, but they rode down the gate. We raised the alarm before they could get into Bree proper or hurt anyone, and the black riders fled into the wild."
Hiccup blinked, realizing the obvious.
That's where we are going. Good thing we have Toothless with us. Really hope Strider knows what he's doing.
"Thank you for the warning," Strider calmly answered.
The guard shrugged and stepped aside.
"It's yer lives then... not my problem if ya die outside the walls."
They walked out through the ruined gated and entered the woods.
Toothless saw them approaching outside the walls and among the trees, so he bounded over to them. Strider had his horse with him, and a few quiet words from the man calmed the horse.
"Good job, bud. No one else saw you," Hiccup nodded.
Toothless snorted and rolled his eyes.
"No screaming in fear, just like last night in the rain?"
"Yep, you got it," Hiccup smiled.
The Hobbits dropped a few packs on the ground before them.
"Master Toothless, do you mind helping us with our stuff? We picked up a few more bags," Sam mildly asked.
"Sure," he nodded with a glance to the saddle and ropes that held Hiccup's stuff.
Hiccup strapped a few more packs to his back and the riding equipment.
"Master Toothless indeed..." Hiccup chuckled.
"Yes, I am!" he preened.
Then they were all ready.
"Alright, we are ready to go!" Pippin cheerfully said.
"Yeah, what is the plan, Strider?" Merry added.
The man glanced back at them from the side of his horse. He was definitely appraising them.
"I will lead us into the wild through paths only I and my kind know. Through the Midgewater Marshes, to Amon Sul, and then tracking the East Road. Toothless, you and Hiccup should stay on the ground so as to not give away our position."
They both nodded in agreement.
"Sounds great! What are we going to do about breakfast?" Pippin inquired.
"We've already had it..." Strider answered.
"We've had one, yes. What about second breakfast?"
Strider did not respond in any way except to turn away and start leading his horse.
"I don't think he knows about second breakfast, Pip," Merry explained.
The shock on Pippin's face was obvious.
"What about elevensies, luncheon, afternoon tea, dinner, supper, he knows about them, right?"
"Don't count on it!" Merry added.
"Oye!" Sam shouted while lunging toward Pippin.
Sam snagged a thrown apple that would have hit Pippin in the face. The apple had come from up ahead.
"There! There's second breakfast for you..." Sam exclaimed as he flipped the apple to Pippin.
Frodo just shared an amused glance with Hiccup and Toothless, both of whom snorted and rolled their eyes.
Very little filled his blood with warmth like a true hunt. The last true hunt in the wild had been on that far island before he and Hiccup had flown to this land. Since then though, he had satisfied himself with rabbits, fish, the grazing four-legs that ate the Hobbits' fields, and already-killed land prey that were gifted to him by the Hobbits. Those were good.
But they were not hunted by his teeth and claws.
A dragon that could not catch its own meals was weaker and smaller in its soul-fire. He would never let than happen to him.
He avoided stepping on any branches as he kept his nose to the grass. The four-leg had passed this way and marked its path.
More following of the trail while keeping himself low to the ground. Not a purr or a growl escaped from him.
Then he paused where he stood.
The prey was digging with its tusks at the ground under a tree across the small clearing.
What do they call it? Something like the pigs the Hobbits have in pens... Dogs... no. Hogs... maybe that is it.
He considered how to go for the kill. Claws and teeth were definitely his preferred method in the past. The only problem with that way of killing is that he needed to be close. The prey might be able to escape into the trees if it saw him.
If he were hunting only for himself he probably would have enjoyed the challenge and the chase. But he was hunting also for Hiccup, the Hobbits, and Strider.
Fire was a more reliable option.
He readied his fire, stood tall on his hind legs, and shot at the prey. Hiccup had previously told him that his never missing his target was something that the Vikings had used to describe him.
A Night Fury never misses.
Then he padded over to the dead prey, the hide of which was partly on fire where his shot had hit it. He put out the small fire by stepping on it with a paw. Then he sniffed at the dead prey, wrinkling his nose in displeasure.
Why do humans and Hobbits like their prey burned? It ruins the taste of blood.
Then he remembered seeing dead humans, dead Vikings, that had been hit by his fire. While he had not specifically tried to kill them in the raids, some of them had gotten in the way of his shots. He had inspected their dead bodies and had nibbled on one to see if it was worth eating, eventually deciding against it. Other dragons would and did eat humans, dead or alive, but he was not so sure about it back then.
Something about the humans had always been different from true prey. Prey did not have soul-fires. Prey was only food walking around the world. Prey had no purpose except to make more of their kind and to be eaten by predators such as himself.
Could prey think, care, feel, or show mercy? Soul-fire was needed to do those.
Prey would probably think of him as a monster. But he thought of the thought-thralling nest-Queen as a monster. Was she more than him in the same way that he was more than the four-leg prey?
He snorted and shook his head of such flightless thoughts.
She thought of nothing but herself. She cared for no others. She is a monster to all dragons, and I am a monster to prey. That is as it should be.
He bent down and sank his teeth into the hog's hide, lifting it from the ground and turning back for the camp.
They all ate well.
There were almost no complaints.
"This could do with some more seasoning..." Pippin complained.
"I prefer it medium rare, myself," Merry added.
"Just a few wild herbs... some parsley, thyme, rosemary... that would better hit the spot," Sam agreed.
Strider and Frodo slowly shook their heads at them while attending to their portions.
Toothless ate a haunch that was set aside for him.
"More warm blood would be good," he added with a growl.
The Hobbits looked over at him in a mix of amusement and alarm.
"What?" he grumbled.
"Typical dragon..." Merry bemoaned.
"He likes his meals very... rare. Nothing wrong with that," Hiccup explained.
Toothless hummed in agreement while flashing the Hobbits a look.
"Maybe next time I will eat the prey myself and not bring any for you..."
"Hey now, that wouldn't be fair. We are a team, you see," Pippin countered.
"Team? What?" Toothless barked in confusion.
"Yes, you catch the food and we eat it. Teamwork."
Merry cheerfully slapped Pippin on the back.
"Agreed, Pip. It is a very appropriate arrangement. We get to do the quality control."
Toothless huffed and turned away from them to sit on his haunches, grumbling and crossing his paws on his chest as he did so.
"Useless Hobbits."
Then he returned to eating.
Strider passed the reins off to Sam and then slowed down to walk with Hiccup and Toothless.
"Mister Haddock, do you have any skill with a blade?"
Hiccup blinked in surprise.
"With a blade? Uh, not really. I'm not much of a fighter at all."
"Have you ever practiced with a weapon?"
A shrug.
"Maybe a little with an ax, but I'm terrible with it."
Strider nodded and stepped aside for a moment. He used his dagger to slice away a cutting of some strange plant and then returned to them.
"You do not have the build of a typical warrior. To have skill with a sword, an ax, a spear, or any such weapon you must have enough strength and dexterity to use them."
Hiccup gave another shrug.
"I was training to be a blacksmith. It was better for me to make the weapons for others who could use them since I couldn't."
"Have you ever practiced with a bow?" Strider asked.
"With a bow? Not really for fighting. Fighting from a distance was not really my tribe's style, even if some of them did have bows for hunting."
"But you are very different from the rest of your tribe," Strider countered.
Hiccup thought about it more seriously, again thinking back to Toothless's suggestion to him.
A bow was definitely a different type of weapon, far more suited to tactical combat. Strength was still important to be able to draw the weapon, but accuracy was also crucial. Now that he thought about it, he had been decent in the practice hunts he had been taken on in the Berk forest.
He had shot down Toothless in the night when the dragon was flying at full speed.
Maybe...
"That might work."
"What is a bow?" Toothless asked.
"One of these," Strider said, walking forward to his horse and retrieving his bow.
Toothless nodded in recognition.
"That would be good for you, Hiccup. You would stay far from the enemies and be safer, even though I will always be there to protect you."
"Where would I get a bow and arrows?" Hiccup wondered.
"I am sure that the Elves could provide you with what you need," Strider answered.
The mention of this strange people reminded Hiccup of when they saw the Elves passing in the night.
"You know the Elves, sir?"
Strider looked away from them both and was silent. His gaze was into a different world.
"I do know them very well. I was raised in Rivendell."
"So you know Elvish?"
"I do..."
Strider still stared off into the distance with a very fond look about his features.
"Rivendell is like home for you?"
"It is... a home for me, yes, though I have not seen it in many years."
"How long has it been since you were there?"
"Too long," Strider whispered.
Hiccup put a hand on Toothless's shoulder.
"We've been away from home for a long time too. Months now."
Toothless grumbled softly.
"Berk and the nest with the Monster; I am never flying to those places again. Those are not home to me; they are not my place."
Hiccup frowned slightly at that. For Toothless to not want to go back to Dragon Island made perfect sense. For them to not go back to Berk meant that he himself would not be able to see any of the Berkians, any of his family, again.
That was all far off in the future, if ever.
"What about your kind, Toothless? Where are they?" Strider asked.
Unsurprisingly, Toothless's ears fell slightly.
"I do not know. I was always alone, the only one of my kind."
"You do not know what happened to your parents?"
"No. They might have been eaten by the Monster."
Hiccup winced at how likely and terrible that sounded. It was unlikely that they would have turned tail and flown away, leaving him alone there.
It was also possible that Night Furies didn't have families; some creatures were solitary by nature. Maybe his egg was intentionally left there in the nest. But something about that explanation didn't feel right, given how Toothless was fond of finding his own kind and also how caring the Fury was to him.
"What Monster?" Strider asked.
"A very big dragon that controlled others and made them hunt for it. I was in its flock until Hiccup happened to me."
Strider sighed.
"I know something of what being alone must have been like. My father was killed when I was only a young lad, and my mother has long since passed."
Toothless hummed softly in consideration.
"Do you have any kin of your own? A mate or young ones?"
Strider only stared off into the distance.
"No. Not yet. I do not know if..."
"Hey, Strider, are you sure this is the right way?" Pippin shouted from ahead.
"I am very certain," Strider faintly grinned.
"Then what about this big marsh in the way?" Merry added.
"Yeah! We've lost the path!" Pippin explained.
There was indeed a very large marsh in their path. There were many pools of water and short shrublike trees throughout.
All six of them stopped walking at the edge of the marsh.
"That is our road," Strider explained with a gesture ahead.
Without exception, the Hobbits groaned.
Hiccup glanced down at his shoes and sighed.
Great, they were too clean anyway. I just hope the bugs aren't too bad.
Toothless loosed a burst of flame at a particularly dense flight of bugs. They fell dead and were replaced by even more buzzing annoyances.
Then he growled and shook his paws, trying to get the mud off them by staying on the most stable ground.
"Are you sure we should not fly?" he growled to Hiccup.
"Yeah, it wouldn't be fair to them, and we should stay hidden."
Hiccup still frowned, feeling the sting from another bite on his neck and swatting away the mosquitoes.
All the Hobbits were wearing their cloaks and hoods to have some protection from the hungry bugs.
Pippin slipped and fell into a pool of rancid water.
"What do they eat when they can't get Hobbit?" Merry protested.
Strider still led the way while holding his horse's reins. He somehow knew the most stable path.
Most impressively, he never complained about the elements.
Or the bugs.
Night had fallen, and all were gathered together in a small clearing in the marshes. Strider had somehow found enough dry timber for a small fire.
"What are we going to do for kindling?" Sam wondered.
"Yeah, everything is wet here," Merry agreed.
Toothless stepped forward and purred while smirking at them all.
They had a warm fire seconds later.
Strider inclined his head as he tended to the fire, keeping the flame alive.
"That would have taken me a long time with my steel and flint."
"An advantage of traveling with a dragon," Hiccup smiled as he went to rest against Toothless's side.
Strider then reached into his pack and pulled out many cuttings of some strange, fragrant plant. He held them above the fire just long enough to get them smoking, and then he tossed them immediately around the Hobbits.
"And this is an advantage of traveling with a Ranger."
"What is this plant for?" Frodo whispered while holding a smoking cutting.
"Yeah, it's just a plant," Pippin said while looking disdainfully at the apparent weed.
Strider was bemused by that.
"It is a plant the smoke of which insects do not like."
Sure enough, there were no insects at all currently bothering them.
"Amazing." "Fantastic." "That's useful." "Good to know."
Strider then got up and retrieved his bow.
"Glad to hear it. You all stay here and get some rest. I will take first watch."
None of the Hobbits looked inclined to argue, all of them being exhausted from a full day of walking. They all started bunking down near the small fire. Toothless lay down partly around them all with Hiccup immediately at his side under a wing.
"So, who wants to tell the first story?" Pippin asked.
"Story? What?" Hiccup yawned.
"Oh yes, it's tradition when camping," Merry explained.
"You call this camping?" Sam groaned.
"Close enough," Pippin chuckled.
"I like it. This pack-bonding. Hiccup has stories he can tell," Toothless grinned.
Hiccup reached over and flicked an ear in revenge.
"Really, Toothless?"
"You were volun-told! Get talking," Merry chuckled.
"Alright, how about our first flight together?" Hiccup offered after a moment of thought.
"This will be good. Do not forget to tell them that you almost killed us," Toothless interjected.
"Who is telling the story? That's right, I am, thank you very much. Useless reptile..."
Hiccup sighed and glanced at the eager Hobbits. He launched into the story, beginning with how he learned the different tailfin positions and the difficulties getting Toothless to wear the saddle.
Toothless had laughed at that point and interjected that if he was going to have to carry a human on his back then that human would have to work to catch him first.
All the Hobbits had laughed at the unintended crashing into the sea stacks, and they had gasped in alarm when the fall from the skies was related.
"And then this guy must have forgotten that I don't have scales because he flamed right in front of us and then flew through it!"
"I was very excited to be flying again! And you were fine."
"Yeah, except for my eyebrows. They're still growing back..."
Toothless snorted and mouthed something unknown.
"Alright, that's my story. How about you two, Merry, Pippin?"
The two troublemakers shared a glance and a nod.
"The fireworks!" they both exclaimed at once.
"What?" Hiccup wondered.
"It was during Bilbo's party. Did you see one very big firework that looked like a dragon?"
"Yes, we did," Toothless answered.
"We were... involved in that," Merry began.
"Yeah, Gandalf looked like he needed help shooting off all his fireworks in time, so we... decided to help him by launching some ourselves," Pippin added.
"So we took the biggest one we could find."
"It was glorious," Pippin breathed in awe.
"We kind of got carried away and stuck it in the ground without thinking. We were still inside a tent," Merry groaned.
"Your idea!" Pippin exclaimed.
"Of course, Gandalf found us covered in soot and guilty. He twisted our ears and made us do all the dishes after the party."
"Totally worth it..."
Frodo burst out in laughter which Toothless and Hiccup echoed. Everyone then looked at Sam and Frodo once they had recovered themselves.
"I was thinking I might sing something for us all," Frodo sheepishly offered.
"What is it?" Hiccup eagerly asked.
"Something my uncle wrote from his journeys long ago. It seems fitting with what we are doing: leaving home and all."
Frodo took a breath and closed his eyes.
"May it be an evening star... Shines down upon you... May it be when darkness falls... Your heart will be true."
"You walk a lonely road... Oh, how far you are from home... Believe and you will find your way... A promise lives within you now."
"May it be the shadows call... Will fly away... May it be your journey on... To light the day."
"When the night is overcome... You may rise to find the sun... Believe and you will find your way... A promise lives within you now."
Frodo fell silent.
It was a silence only broken by the buzz of distant insects and the crackle of the fire.
"I like it. We are on an adventure together, and who knows where it will go?" Hiccup sighed.
"We already know that. We are going to Rivendell where we will leave the Ring with the Elves. Then it will be their problem, not ours," Frodo explained.
Frodo turned to Sam and nudged his shoulder.
"Sam, your turn now!"
Sam looked very bashful.
"I don't know if I should sing this one since it is not a happy song."
"Go for it anyway. Sad songs can be very powerful, if they are sad for the right reasons," Frodo reassured him.
Sam looked up at the stars.
"Alright, you got me thinking about this when you mentioned Rivendell and the Elves. It is about an ancient King of the Elves."
"Gil-galad was an Elven-king... Of him the harpers sadly sing... The last whose realm was fair and free... Between the Mountains and the Sea."
"His sword was long, his lance was keen... His shining helm afar was seen... The countless stars of heaven's field... Were mirrored in his silver shield."
"But long ago he rode away... And where he dwelleth none can say... For into darkness fell his star... In Mordor where the shadows are..."
His voice trailed off into a long, solemn silence.
"Sam, I didn't know you knew that story," Frodo whispered, breaking the silence.
Sam shrugged.
"There's more to the song, but I don't recall any more of it. The rest was too sad for me."
No one said anything else, though they all started yawning. The fire had burned low and was only a few crackling embers. Everyone wordlessly agreed to start turning in.
Hiccup stared up at the stars, visible on this cloudless night.
The countless stars of heaven's field...
Having heard about that Mordor place many times now, he knew that it was not a good place.
I'm glad that we don't have to go there.
The sound of very soft singing woke him up later. He knew that he didn't imagine it because Frodo also stirred.
Together, they got to their feet and crossed the short distance over to Strider, who had returned from wherever he had wandered off to. The Ranger was sitting alone on the other side of the small clearing while smoking a pipe.
Strider was also singing a slow, mournful song in a language Hiccup did not know. That was a shame. The song sounded almost Elvish. He really wanted to know what...
"Who is she? This woman you sing of?" Frodo asked.
Oh, right. Frodo knows Elvish.
Strider was not surprised that they had approached him.
"It is the Lay of Luthien."
There was something very solemn in his voice.
"What is it about?" Frodo asked.
"It tells of the meeting of a mortal man, Beren son of Barahir, and Luthien Tinuviel, the immortal daughter of the Elf King Thingol. Beren saw her dancing in a glade, and he named her Nightingale, or Tinuviel. He wished to wed her, but her father, not wanting his daughter to wed a mortal man, set an impossible task for him. He had to retrieve as bride-price one of the three Silmarils from Morgoth's crown."
"Excuse me, but who is Morgoth?" Hiccup quietly asked.
"Morgoth is the Greatest Enemy, of whom even Sauron is only a servant. This Ring is what binds Sauron to existence now, but I have heard it said that all of Arda is Morgoth's Ring, in a way."
"I'm not sure I understand that at all," Frodo said.
"You do not need to know more for this story. Working together, Beren and Luthien snuck into the Dark Lord's fortress and took one of the greatest of jewels, a Silmaril, from Morgoth's crown. It was meant to be an impossible task, but they achieved it and escaped afterwards. But Beren was eventually slain by one of Morgoth's beasts, and he died in Luthien's arms. She chose to give up her immortality, and she died. The story sings that they met again beyond the Sundering Seas and were granted a special grace because of how sad their tale was. They were allowed to live again, but only mortal lives. They lived happily together in peace until the end of their days. Thus, the fairest Elf that ever was is sundered from her kind. Though they are gone now, their line still lives in the house of Elrond, the Kings of ancient Numenor, and their... descendants."
Strider sighed and resumed puffing his pipe.
There was something about that song that deeply moved Strider during the telling. Something beyond it being only a sad story about lovers parted.
Then Strider turned on them and gave them a kind smile. There was a strength in his gaze and his voice that contrasted greatly with his wildly long hair and haggard appearance.
"You should both get your rest. We do not stop tomorrow until we reach Amon-Sul."
"What is Amon-Sul?" Hiccup asked, not remembering seeing that place on any maps.
"You might know it better as Weathertop."