This Is The Last Time (HTTYD)

Chapter Fourteen : The Stain of Ashes

Warning: This chapter will contain graphic and violent material.

- Cassiopeia

PS. For those of you who were wondering, Haikus may or may not be included in the next chapter ;)

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Ingrid's face unsettled Stoick as she climbed through the forest with a hand filled of rectangle bean pods. The strange creatures before her seemed familiar. They had the same body as a deer that roamed the Berkian forests, but their ears were so long they trailed on the forest ground.

She snapped the bean pods in half and tossed it to the closest deer, who hesitantly sniffed the edge then daintily ate it. Soon the others advanced towards her and were fed bits of broken pods.

When they all seemed friendly enough she climbed on one of the smaller deer's backs.

"You want us to ride these...things?" Spikelout quickly voiced his negative opinion and Stoick's stomach turned with the unsettling glint in her fake smile.

"Unless you want to walk across the Dracones Valley, which is thirty miles across and has dragons as large as your island that will melt you alive, then yes. And lose a few pounds."

Stoick looked down at his heavy furs that had kept him warm through the latter half of this journey, and the weapons that hung at his belt. He looked at the fragile deer and decided it was probably for the best, so he nodded at the others and pulled off his heavy cloak.

The fresh chill of winter rattled his bones and he regretted all the warm air he was losing as he pulled off several fur lined tunics. When there was nothing but a single tunic and a thin undergarment left on his body, he pulled his heavy cloak back on and tried to regain his lost warmth.

Then he pulled one axe and a sword off his belt and wrapped them in his furs. He left the sword across his back and the daggers lining the inside of his belt, just in case. With his discarded weapons wrapped securely in his furs, he walked around and found a small root that was wide enough to shove the bundle over and pull a few fallen branches over.

"Stoick, you get the buck." she pointed to the largest deer that had stars painted on its nose. He walked with gentle footsteps towards the buck, who lazily watched him approach. He reached out his hand and stroked the soft fur that felt like an eagle's feathers.

He mounted the buck like a normal horse, right as the others were mounting as well. Ingrid whistled three quick beats and the deer started to follow her back onto the trail.

They rode a short distance before stopping at the edge of a great valley. It dropped immediately and stretched almost as far as the eye could see, but a glimpse of the sun kept ricocheting into his eyes, so he squinted hard and swore he saw a small outline of a tower in the distance.

His reflexes almost spurted out the stupid question of, "What now?", but he caught his tongue before anything was spoken. In reality he bit his tongue as the deer started to quickly wrap their long ears together and lift themselves into the air.

Their bodies dropped were held almost perpendicular to the ground, except for the small flaps that their tails provided. Stoick threw his arms around the deer's neck and tried not to look at the costly fall that he was doomed to if he fell.

Suddenly he had no love for the silk fur as it made his fear pound against his heart every time the deer's muscles jolted to remain in the air. His fingers slipped and he had to regain his grip before the joints moved again. He doubted it had even been a minute before his fingers started to tire out, but the fear of death was enough to persist any man to power through the journey.