The Arcane Evil (httyd-fic)

Chapter 31

There was heavy pounding on the door and Fishlegs groaned as he placed the pillow over his head to try and drown out the noise. "Fishlegs I know you are there!!" Came from the other side of the door.

"Go away Snotlout!!" Fishlegs shouted as he recognized the voice. "The sun's not even up yet!!"

"This is important!" Snotlout shouted now.

Fishlegs groaned as he got out of bed and opened the door. Snotlout, without waiting for a response, grabbed Fishlegs by his sleeping gown and dragged him out of the room.

"Snotlout! Let me get changed first." Fishlegs grumbled.

"That can wait." Snotlout said as he continued to drag Fishlegs out of the cleric's tower.

"Where are we going?" Fishlegs asked when Snotlout had let go and was motioning for him to follow.

"The castle stables." Snotlout simply said before they quietly made their way there. Snotlout did not enter the stables upon reaching but he guided Fishlegs to a window. When Fishlegs looked through the window he was shocked. The stable was filled with caged dragons.

"What are all these dragons doing in Haleah?!" Fishlegs now asked.

"I don't know but my father was awfully giddy when they arrived. Some of the other stables have dragons in them as well. I think it had to do with the commotion a few days ago." Snotlout mumbled. "It all seems strange. A large group rode up to the castle, next thing you know caged dragons start arriving as well as foreign nobility. Just yesterday two royal families arrived in Thellone. They are staying in the castle along with those who had already arrived."

"It would probably explain why a high master was called to the castle a while ago." Fishlegs muttered. "You do not just summon a high master, even if you are the king. It is only for urgent matters."

"That is why I sent the twins to spy for me." Snotlout explained which caused Fishlegs' eyes to widen.

"Are you crazy!" Fishlegs said as he started to shake Snotlout by his shoulders. "They thrive on chaos and they can't sit still!"

"Relax Fish, Ruffnut learned an invisibility spell last week. She wanted to test it out anyways." Snotlout tried to reason.

Fishlegs blanched now. "So the twins are invisible inside the castle."

"Yes"

"And you are not the least bit worried that the possibility of the castle not standing tomorrow is now much higher." Fishlegs mumbled as they made their way back.

"Oh" Snotlout said as realization hit him. "But they aren't that bad." He then tried to reason. Fishlegs gave Snotlout an incredulous look.

"Snotlout you are defending the twins after Ruffnut buried you up to your head when we got back to the city. For that matter, how did you even know Ruffnut learned a new spell? She's been keeping quiet where she practices."

"Well.... Eh... eh...." Snotlout started to say as his face grew hot. Fishlegs saw it and started to grin.

"Snotlout do you like Ruffnut?" Fishlegs now asked as amusement laced his voice. "Are you planning to court her?"

"Nonononoooo" Snotlout quickly defended but a snort not so far away caught their attention.

Both looked and saw an empty street and then suddenly the twins appeared right before them.

"Don't do that!" Both Fishlegs and Snotlout shouted as they eyed the grinning twins.

"So Snotlout, what is this I hear about courting?" Ruffnut asked as she wiggled her eyebrows while Tuffnut made a gagging noise.

"Nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing!" Snotlout quickly said as his face was heating up. No one really believed him but the matter was dropped when Tuffnut said "We have some very interesting news."

Fishlegs, Snotlout and the twins had decided to head back to the cleric's tower. Fishlegs warded his room as soon as everybody was inside. He turned back to the group and saw the twins looking very serious now. 'This can't be good.' He thought as he took a seat.

"Alright, so we snuck into the castle at night." Tuffnut began. "The first thing we did was steal some food from the kitchens. You can't spy on an empty stomach."

Ruffnut rolled her eyes at her brother. "We made our way up the different floors of the castle until a particular conversation in King Madine's study caught our attention. We managed to slip inside and found that the study was crowded with the royals from other kingdoms."

"I think all of the rulers from the northern kingdoms were present as well as those from the southern kingdoms with the exception of the Dark Queen." Tuffnut explained.

"King Madine proceeded to introduce a man named Drago Bludvist, as Forline's former advisor and hero to their cause." Tuffnut continued to explain.

"Wait, former advisor?" Fishlegs questioned. "And the Queen was not present!"

"Looks that way." Ruffnut muttered. "Those stuffy rulers do not like her very much from the conversation we overheard. They can hardly stand it, that she, as a woman was in charge of a realm and they seem to fear her for her magic." Ruffnut explained in disgust. "It seemed that this Drago fellow had gotten a hold of the Queen's blood and King Madine had called a high master to open some sort of spell-book that seemed to have belonged to the Queen."

"That's it!" Snotlout suddenly grumbled. "That's why the Queen had a bounty on her head. They needed her blood."

"So it would seem." Tuffnut stated. "The surprising thing that we learned is that all the royals are heading to the Isle of Shadows for a ritual on the full moon which would be in two days."

"That would explain the dragons. The Isle of Shadows is near the great underwater chasm off the coast of Barione. Giant whirlpools surround the Isle." Fishlegs mumbled. "They plan to ride the dragons to the Isle as it is inaccessible by sea."

"What kind of ritual are they preparing for?" Fishlegs suddenly asked. "I probably would not agree with all the principles of the Dark ones but there is no denying that the Queen has mastered the magic. We all saw what she was capable of. If that book truly did belong to her and it was sealed so efficiently that they needed her blood to open it then the ritual they are performing could turn out to be very damaging."

"I don't know." Ruffnut mumbled. "They were going on about ushering in a new age of prosperity for the land and they were also condemning the Queen for keeping this to herself."

Fishlegs was deep in thought after the twins explained what they overheard when Snotlout got an idea.

"We should follow them to the Isle!" Snotlout exclaimed.

"Snotlout the Isle isn't accessible by sea." Fishlegs muttered.

"Who said anything about going by sea." Snotlout countered with a smirk.

"Oh no" Fishlegs groaned loudly as realization hit.