The Big Four

Chapter 6

I wake up, gasping for air. My long hair is, for once, a total mess. It’s piled around me on the dirty floor.
“Jack? Hiccup? Merida?”
I hear a groan from somewhere to my left. I scramble over.
“Rapunzel?” Merida’s voice is scraggly and thin; I wonder how she survived.
“Yes. Are you OK?”
She moans in response.
I sing. My hair glows as it heals her physical injuries, and I see Jack somewhere in the far corner in the room and Hiccup only a few paces away.
I go from person to person. Jack and Hiccup wake up moments after I heal them.
I keep singing, giving us light. The boys check for ways out, but there’s only one locked door.
The door suddenly bangs open, knocking Jack backwards. I stop singing and my hair dims.
“Two Nocte Furiae abovedecks.”
Jack and Hiccup practically freeze.
“Two?”
“Yes. No one trusts you, but we need your help. You’ll fight them, or else.”
“Fine,” Jack growls.

---

“Wait!” I force myself to stand. My head protests violently, but I ignore it. I will not be weak. “I can fight.”
“Merida!” Hiccup looks desperate, pleading.
I need to fight. I need to prove that I’m not just a fairytale princess waiting for her prince to protect her. I’m not my mother.
The Viking just laughs. “All right then! You’ve got spirit. No wonder Hiccup fell for you. What’ll your weapon be?”
“Bow.”
He tosses me a bow and quiver of arrows. He laughs as I stumble after them.
The moment my hand touches the bow, they practically catch fire. I stand, feeling better than ever in my life.
I look harder at the bow. It’s the same one I had back on the island.
I smile at Hiccup. “Let’s go.”

---

I follow Merida and the boys up to the main deck, grabbing a sword on the way out. Jack falls back by my side, concern etched clearly onto his face.
“I’ll be OK,” I promise. I smile. Mother’s curse is also a blessing; I will definitely be fine.
He catches on to that, too. His concern melts into something that I can’t quite read. “Still gonna fight by your side.”
I laugh. “Fine, Prince Charming.”
All traces of joy fall away when we emerge.
The dragons are terrifying. A huge, black one circles above the ship. Its scales flicker in the torchlight, and its eyes are pure red. An icy white dragon weaves around the ship, freezing everything in its path. Its eyes are an unsettling white, and its icy claws are streaked with blood.
I look deep into Jack’s eyes, making one last promise before we fight. “You’ll be OK, too.”

---

She truly is stupid.
What was she thinking?
She somehow races up the stairs to reach me. What happened to the effects of the Haunted encounter?
She smiles at me. “It’s the bow.”
It takes me a minute to understand her words.
“You mean… Your bow healed you? How?”
She shrugs, but her smile stays. “I don’t know. It just did.”
Her smile fades and her eyes widen as we emerge onto the deck. A black dragon – none other than the one that we rode to the island – circles and weaves around the boat, leaving destruction in its wake. Another dragon, a white one, follows, breathing ice and chaos.
I grab her hand, and she looks up. Her eyes are almost as round as the moon. “It’ll be OK,” I whisper.
She nods, and a smile finds its way to her lips. “Let’s go fight some dragons.”

---

I fight hard, but not very well. Merida never misses a shot, and Hiccup is a naturally good fighter. Rapunzel abandons her sword within minutes, making herself useful with her hair. The magical glow can be seen from anywhere on the ship.
I’m practically useless without my staff.
The white dragon swoops down, and I jab with my spear. I miss.
I duck out of the way.
I focus. I’m probably crazy, but I need my staff.
It flies across the deck and straight into my hand. I smile.
Thanks, Wind.
No problem.
I soar up into the air and leap at the white dragon. I hit it hard with my staff, but the ice doesn’t bother it. I swerve out of the way.
Well then.
I jab at the black one, and it freezes in mid-air. It crumbles as it hits the deck.
Rapunzel hits a long, sharp note, and the pieces swerve away, not hitting anyone.

---

I sing and sing and sing, but nothing will take the dragon down.
The words echo in my head over and over again, like Mother reminding me of the answer to a test.
In lapidem converto.
I shake my head. I can’t use that spell again; I might set it on the wrong person, and it can never be undone.
Jack flies around, attempting to find weak spot on the final dragon. Merida shoots and shoots and shoots, and Hiccup strikes whenever the dragon gets close enough.
Its armor is impetrenable.
Of course!
Flower, gleam and glow;
Let your power shine;
Adiuva me effodiunt;
Perde hostium arma irrefragabiles!
The song works. The arrows pierce, and the dragon hurtles towards the deck. Hiccup hits it right in the heart, and I send it flying into the ocean.
Yes.