A New World, Complicated

Chapter 11: Heather Report, Pt. 2 (Reign)

        He stared down at her curiously as she breathed deeply, laying unconscious in the sand. Some of her red hair was long, curly, and wild, while other bits had been burnt to nearly against her skull. He had heard the cry of a dragon, but when he came down to investigate, he only found a girl. Her clothes were odd, not from Berk, but there was some sort of familiarity to their style. She had no weapons, only a shield attached to her back. Her pallid arms were coated in as many scratches as freckles, with scattered burn marks that would take a while to heal, if ever.

Gently, he crouched down to touch her arm, but right before she did, she shot up, gasping for air. They stared right into each other's eyes, and he took the time to memorize the jade bowls set into her skull before she started screaming.

"Dad!"

As soon as I spotted her, I had Shriek fire a boom that was large enough to stop the fleeing girl, but small enough that she wouldn't die.

"You can break out of jail as many times as you want, but you're not getting off this island." I swooped my Thunderdrum down and picked Heather up, flying her back to the cells, and unceremoniously tossed her back in. "Give it up, Heather. We have dragons."

"Reign, I have to get back to Outcast Island."

"Yeah, I bet you do," I huffed. Done with listening to her prattle on, I began to walk away.

"You don't understand. Alvin has my parents!" I laughed at her lame excuse. That was really the best she could come up with?

"Oh, yeah? What happened to the pirates?" Heather sighed, knowing she had been caught.

"There were never any pirates. I made it up. But I had to. I needed you to trust me." I couldn't believe this girl. Didn't she understand that I never trusted her?

"Well, guess what? We don't. Not anymore."

I coldly turned my back on her and walked away, heading to where I knew Hiccup was. He sat beside Toothless, sulking at the fact that Heather couldn't be trusted. I had figured he at least found her attractive, and I was still a little angry at the fact he had put Heather and I at the same level, but I felt nothing but sympathy for him at the moment. So, I sucked it up and sat down next to him.

"You made one mistake, Hiccup. It'll work out."

"That mistake cost us the Book of Dragons, Reign. That's a valuable resource that one of our mortal enemies now has in his hands." As he leaned his head on my shoulder, I began to run my fingers through his hair.

"Hey, you always figure these sort of things out. Even if we don't get the book back from Alvin, you and Toothless can help train everybody to defend the dragons and Berk." I gently rested my nose against the top of his head. "You're so much smarter and braver than you give yourself credit for. So what if you couldn't see through Heather's rouse? You immediately jumped on your dragon and made a mad dash after her, only giving up when you got hurt."

Softly, I kissed the top of his head.

"You're going to figure this out. And I'm right here to help you." He lifted his head and looked at me with somewhat of a smile- as much as he could muster at the moment.

"Then I guess we should get going now. We have to train to attack."

I whistled for Shriek, and she quickly dashed over, after which Hiccup and I gathered up the others and rounded them up at the academy. Hiccup went over the plan he had been formulating, and the two of us watched as training began. Snotlout drew back a mini catapult with a boulder on it, shooting the rock directly at Meatlug, who caught it in her mouth and devoured it.