The Big Four

Chapter 1 - Part 1 - Merida & Hiccup

“Merida!”
I open one eye. I glance around, looking for my window, but it’s not there. I suddenly remember that we’re on a ship.
“Merida! Wake up!”
Mother struts into my room, every fiber of her being reflecting perfection.
“Merida! Remember, princesses…”
“Rise early. Whatever. Does that have to apply to when we’re sailing?”
“Of course, impudent girl. I expect to see you at breakfast in fifteen minutes.”
As quickly as she had come, she was gone. I groaned and fell back on my bed.
I wanted to go back to sleep, but Mother was serious. If I wasn’t prompt to breakfast, the consequences would be severe. I’d be grounded for weeks, allowed to do nothing at all. Which would be particularly awful considering that we were nearing the Haunted Islands; I still had to convince her to let me go with Father.
So I stumble to my closet and pull on a simple dress. I don’t put on a corset – as much as Mother would protest, I vehemently refuse to don such a thing. Girls have been strangled to death by them before.
Of course, Mother wouldn’t believe me.
Exactly fifteen minutes later, I sat down at the breakfast table. The breakfast was amazing – heaps of eggs, sausages, biscuits…
“Merida!”
“What?”
I checked myself. My elbows were off the table, I wasn’t slurping, and I hadn’t dropped so much as a crumb. What was it now?
“Stop eating!”
“WHAT?”
“You heard me! Eating like that, you’ll be as fat as that Dutch princess, Lastria!”
Mother herself had barely touched her food, eating small portions very slowly. I lowered my fork in disbelief. Was she serious?
“But… Mother…”
“No ‘buts’!”
I excused myself from the table. What was the point of being served so much food if one wasn’t allowed to eat it?
I ventured to the main deck. It was mostly empty, with a large portion of the sailors eating breakfast. There was no one in the Bird’s Nest, so I scrambled up. The height was exhilarating. Mother couldn’t find me here; I felt free. No worries, no hurts, no lectures. Just me, the wood beneath me, and the sky above.
I eagerly looked around with the spyglass. The Haunted Islands were nowhere in sight. I heaved a sigh of disappointment as something caught my eye.
It was another ship!
Were they also in search of Haunted Island? Or were they merchants? Or perhaps pirates!
I couldn’t make out the flag for a few more minutes, but by the time I did, it was too late.

---

“Hiccup!”
I shot awake so fast I was afraid I might hit my head on the low ceiling. “What? Where? Who? I-“
“Quiet, boy. It’s your turn to guard abovedecks.”
I just nodded. The moment I was out of bed, Josef was in it, snoring. He’d probably been up for a straight twenty-four hours, so I didn’t blame him.
I hurried up to the bird’s nest, the highest part of the ship. The height was dizzying; if you fell from here, there was no promise that you would even hit the ship.
The sky was clear, with no clouds to block the fading moon and stars. The sun would rise very soon. I just stood my post and stared out into the sea, waiting for my post to end.
I was lucky to be on this ship. I’d been given a chance to prove myself.
Why did my gut tell me that everything was going to go seriously wrong?
That’s when I spotted the ship.
It was rare that we ran into other ships on these expeditions. We were probably the only civilization that chased the dragons. I hated the times when we did meet other ships; the violence was cruel and unnecessary. I mean, I’m all about pummeling enemies, but the last merchant unlucky enough to cross our path was totally innocent.
But the men on these ships were thirsty for blood. And if I didn’t point out the boat, someone would know. I’d be reported, and my father wouldn’t show any favoritism as the chieftain.
I scramble down and shout out the warning: “Unidentified ship on starboard side!”
Suddenly everyone is awake. These people seem to run on blood and suffering and gold. Even Josef was wide awake. Within seconds, we were at the ship’s side, shooting grappling hooks and dragging the ships together. Father was the first to step foot onto the other deck and shout the call:
“Go, Vikings!”
Everyone surges onto the ship. Screams start to echo and I try desperately to not think about what’s happening around me.
I start climbing the Bird’s Nest. I need to get away from the fighting; hopefully everyone will think I’ve found some mischief to make downstairs.
I don’t have any intention of hurting anyone myself. Perhaps I’m still not any better than them; I sounded the alarm. But I know that they’d never forgive me if I were faced with an innocent person to fight. I wouldn’t be able to hurt them. I’d shame my father beyond measure.
The moment I reach the top, I receive a harsh kick to the face. I cry out and desperately cling to the railing.
I look up to see a girl perhaps a few years younger than me. She has fiery red hair, a pale complexion, and mesmerizing aquamarine eyes.
She kicks again, but I swing myself up and out of the way.
I’m now hundreds of feet above the ship, fighting with a girl who seems intent on sending me plunging to my death.
I knew it. I still can’t hurt her.
She growls and lunges, pulling a move I recognize from a run-in with a Gaelic ship once before. I sidestep and grab her arm. Her own momentum knocks her to the ground.
She jumps up, but I grab her other arm and hold her at a distance. She has this determined, brave look in her eyes – like she’s fought worse than me and won.
I don’t have a hard time believing that at all.

---

He’s holding both of my arms now. I can’t possibly pull out of his grip; he has surprising strength for his lean frame. I rack my brain, trying to think of a way to escape before he slowly kills me.
Nothing. Curse Mother for forcing me to take history instead of combat!
The Viking boy just stands there, as if he’s unsure of what to do next. Neither of us move. The ship tips violently to the left, and I nearly slide over the railing. I ask myself - again - why on earth there aren't higher railings on these things.
He lets go of one hand to hold the mast but holds the other one tighter. My heel is inches from the edge. A wisp of smoke curls by, and I realize that our ship is on fire. We’re going to sink.
I can’t help it – a little whimper escapes. I’m probably about to die, and my family may already be dead or prisoners.
He opens his mouth as if to say something, but then closes it.
Well then.
I punch with my free arm, but he narrowly dodges.
Then he does the last thing I expect him to do.
“You have to get out of here.”
He lets go of my other arm and starts climbing down to the burning deck. There are a few prisoners left to die, but most of the Vikings have returned to their own ship, laughing over their victory.
I don’t know whether or not to trust him, but I know I have to get out.
I just start climbing down, trying not to think.

---

I don’t know what’s wrong with me. My brain is truly addled.
Am I seriously helping to save an enemy?
Wow.
She climbs much more quickly than me. Perhaps it’s her weight, or agility, or adrenaline. I feel like I’m lumbering down at the speed of a snail.
Finally, we reach the bottom. Flames are everywhere.
Then I’m faced with the ultimate problem: How do I get her onto the ship without getting her noticed?
I can’t see any answer but one, although I hate it more than I’ve hated anything in my life:
For the first time ever, I have to take a person prisoner.

---

I warily follow him. He’s gripping my arm again. It seems unnatural for him – I don’t know why. He looks extremely uncomfortable.
“Listen.”
I mentally wince. The tone of his voice is suddenly scary.
“If you stay here, you die. You have to get onto that ship. You can’t sneak on.”
Then how do I get on?
I wonder if I thought that out loud, because his answer is immediate.
“There’s only one way: You have to be a prisoner.”
My eyes widen and I try to wrench free, but he’s expecting that. He turns to face me, his green eyes pleading. “Please. If you stay here, you die.”
I don’t quite understand why my safety is suddenly so important to him.
“I’d rather jump into the sea than be held prisoner by Vikings.”
A flicker of sadness darkens his face. “Well, sorry about this, then.”
He grabs both of my arms and ties them behind my back before practically dragging me to the enemy ship.

---

I hate this. Why am I so stupid? The girl wants to die. Why should I care?
I have absolutely no reason. I just do. I never realized that I was this anti-Viking.
She kicks and writhes and screams, but I try to ignore her. When I get back, I have to seem excited to catch my first prisoner, to earn my place in the ship. To prove that I truly am a Viking.
Even though I’m not.
Somehow, I’m not actually the last person to board the ship, so it’s not an awkward, you’re-late-again experience. The rest of the Vikings barely notice me and my very angry captive as they get our boat free and take off.
Once we’re back out at sea, though, Father finds me. “Who’s this now?”
He taps the girl’s chin and she snaps at him.
I’m glad that she says it for me, because I have no idea. “Princess Merida of DunBroch, you barbarian.”
“Your first captive, a princess? Not bad, son.”
Merida’s eyes portray ultimate disgust. “Where are my parents? My younger brothers?”
Father narrows his eyes. “You ask too many questions for a prisoner. But. Your parents are probably captive somewhere on this ship. I didn't know that you had brothers. They were probably left on your ship."
Merida's scream is heartwrenching.
Father strikes her, and she quiets. “Take her to the brig.” He turns towards everyone else. "Back to work.”
He leaves, and I drag the whimpering princess down to the prison of the ship.

---

No. No no no. Nononononono.
This can’t be happening. My little brothers... burned alive and drowned. My heart has shattered into a million unfixable pieces.
Tears run down my face like rain. Some sort of cell door closes behind me, but I don’t care. All I can think of are the triplets.
“Hey.”
I look up. The Viking boy's eyes look full of sorrow and regret. I can't take it.
“Leave me alone.”
He flinches. I don’t care.
“I’m sorry.”
I can’t even find words to react to that. An animalistic, heartbroken cry wrenches itself from my throat before I can stop it.
He closes his eyes. He opens his mouth to say more, then decides against it and leaves.
I cry until I have no more tears.

---

The next few weeks are all a blur. I didn’t see Merida but once, and she refused to speak to me.
Now I’m on Bird’s Nest again, watching the stars and wondering why she matters to me at all. Every other Viking would either leave her there to rot and forget her, or torture her until she died.
But, obviously, I’m not a Viking.
A dark shadow covers the moon for a few seconds, then recedes. It wasn’t a cloud. It was…
An epic wave of fire broils through the air.
“DRAGON!”
Everyone is suddenly on deck. Orders ring out to locate the thing and follow it to its nest without harming it, but some shoot at it anyway.
A lucky (or unlucky) arrow hits it. Within seconds, half of the deck is on fire. I can see the dragon in the blazing light.
A Nocte Erynis. Night Fury.
Another blast of purple fire shreds the port deck. Little does the dragon know that just feet below to ashen wood is a captive, heartbroken girl with fiery red hair.
But I do. And I can’t stop the immediate urgency to go save her.
I just reach the ladder when I hear a soft thud behind me. No one else is up here. Unless…
I turn to face a terrifying, midnight black dragon fifty times my size.

---

I wake to the slam of a door. The door to the hallway just outside. A Viking man is standing there, keys in hand.
“Can you fight, girl?”
“Yes,” I mutter.
“Then come on. We need you.”
“Why should I help you? You murdered my younger brothers. They were little boys.”
He just shakes his head. “Time to get over that, lass. We’re being attacked by a dragon, and we need every man on deck.”
Just one dragon? Only one was that powerful…
“A Furia da Noite?”
He gives me a quizzical look, so I translate. “A Night Fury?”
He simply nods, hands me a weapon, and sends me to fight.
I wait until he’s out of sight before acting. I have absolutely no intention to battle with a Night Fury. They’re extremely deadly, and I certainly don’t owe this crew any favors.
I’m up in Bird’s Nest in half the time. It’s not until I reach the top, though, that I realize that the large shadow…
… is the Fury.
I gasp. Just a few feet away, Viking boy is cornered by the beast.
He notices me and gives me a pleading look. I can’t exactly tell whether he’s begging for me to save him or to get out while I still can.
No one in history has ever faced a Night Fury and lived.
Well, changing history sounds like fun.

---

Please leave.
Please leave.
Why aren’t you leaving, you stupid girl?
The dragon snarls. He seems to sense Merida just beside him, as his agitation grows.
He had me cornered. Why hadn’t he killed me already?
I had no idea what to do.
But I knew that I needed to survive this.
Then Merida did possibly the stupidest thing in all of history.
She started walking towards the Fury.
The beast reacted instantly, spewing lava all over Bird’s Nest. The fire went out quickly and the lava cooled, but the wood beneath us was cracking. Between it being burnt to a crisp, the weight from the dragon balancing on it, and the unsteadiness of it originally, it was about to tip.
And then it did.
Merida screamed as she fell over the edge. I leaped at her and grabbed her arm, simultaneously grabbing the dragon’s tail. I had no idea what I was doing. Risking my life to save my enemy? Yeah, totally Viking-like. My father would be so proud.
Not.
The dragon, enraged, took off. I gripped its tail and Merida’s arm even tighter. I wasn’t going to let go. I had to save us.
Us? Us? Since when was there an us?
Oh, shut up.
“Climb up!”
I wasn’t exactly sure if she would be able to, but she managed to climb up me like a rope and wriggle onto the dragon’s tail. I pulled myself up alongside her and gripped the tail wing with all that I had.
We hung on for over an hour as we flew farther and farther from the ship. Once, Merida slipped. It was a terrifying moment, as the dragon spun in circles trying to shake us off, and we were again only hanging by one hand. She managed to get back up, though, and we linked arms so that the same thing wouldn’t happen again.