Draugr

Fourteen

Fourteen

Hiccup was completely unbalanced, emotionally all over the place from the despair of losing the woman he loved and his best canine friend to the confusion and pain of Ruffnut's arrival through to the elation and utter joy of spending a few short moments with Astrid back in his arms...sort of. But the body that he had held no longer held Astrid's soul, because the spiritualist was back and almost hauling his arm out of the socket as they were trying to evade Heather. They burst into the yard, flagged with two raised beds at either side, Toothless's grave at the back and a barbecue to the right. To the left, there was a gate in the white-painted six foot fence that led out to the side.

"Get a move on, lanky!" Ruff growled against the breeze, the drizzle starting again. "She said to get away and call the cops. Probably should have done that before I let you two...well...have a dance..." But there was no accusation in her words, for all her tough exterior.

"That's Heather," Hiccup gaped. "I mean, she helped us move! And she's Astrid's closest friend."

"Not any more," Ruff commented. "Look-does that gate go into the back way?"

"And along into the alley..." Hiccup said-then jerked to a halt, hauling Ruff back as a buff shape with short carrot red hair and mad pale green eyes entered. His eyes were locked on the fleeing pair.

"No witnesses," he growled and Ruff dodged a punch, eyes narrowing in anger.

"Hey!" she protested, bunching her own fists...and then she recognised the man. "Thor...it's him!" Dagur gave a low chuckle.

"How many people know?" he said in a menacing voice. "I seem to be more well known than the President! I'm afraid you can't walk away from this..." And then Hiccup hit him at waist height, slamming him to the flagstones.

"RUN!" he yelled. "Get help!" Ruff didn't even look back, wrenching the gate open and racing off down the narrow backway and into the alley which led to the road. She was already snatching the phone from her pocket read reading the text her twin had sent her:

THEYRE COMING

"No shit," Ruffnut growled. "Duh!" Then she stabbed in 9-1-1 and waited for the answer, the phone pressed to her ear as she accelerated up the alley, heading for the road. They had decided that both twins turning up to the house would be a distraction-and would probably freak Hiccup out even more than he should-so they had left the male twin at the end of the road to act as look-out. His sister really hoped he was heading back to the house because she could do with him just about now.

"POLICE!" she yelled down the phone as she panted closer to the road. "Yeah, we need you at 29, Bifrost Place. There're two people here who have broken in and are trying to kill the occupant. And yeah, they're armed..."

There was a pause. "The units were dispatched ten minutes ago," the operator said, to Ruff's surprise. "They should be with you any time!"

Back in the yard, Dagur had thrown Hiccup off him, sneering at the lean shape as he scrambled up, placing himself between Dagur and the gate. The murderer gave a smirk. "I'm gonna enjoy this," he growled. Hiccup was breathing hard, eyes dark with anxiety and anger.

"Why?" he breathed. "Why are you doing this to us? Why did you kill her?" Dagur lunged at him and Hiccup stumbled back as a punch glanced his chin. He dodged but a second blow slammed him back against the fence.

"She wouldn't hand the purse over-and I needed her money," he growled. "I take what I need." Groaning, Hiccup managed to block the next punch and land one of his own, wrenching the gate open and slipping into the back way-but Dagur was after him, bearing him to the ground and punching him brutally in the face. "I am gonna kill you with my bare hands," the murderer hissed. Hiccup tried to push him off and managed to wriggle away-but a boot crashed into his side and suddenly, he was barely able to breathe. He tried to crawl away, but a hand grabbed his shaggy auburn hair and the man locked his forearm across Hiccup's throat.