Fan-Fic Fridays: "On the Edge of Mystery" Chapter 31: Hanging Around

         Annabeth did not hesitate in jumping off Fredrick and on to Anora when she flew by.  Anora looked the happiest I have seen her, even before Annabeth was gone.

         “Oh I have missed you so much,” Annabeth hugged her dragon.

         Anora closed her eyes and seemed to smile when she was hugged.

         Thorst asked, “So now what are we going to do?”

         “Well,” I replied.  “You have gotten us this far, what is the rest of your plan?”

         Throst answered, “Honestly, I didn’t think I would get this far as I would fall off Fredrick.  Then after that did not happen, it was not dying from an arrow, catapult net, or boulder.  I was hoping you had some bright ideas.”

         I chuckled, “Yes, I have an idea.  But it means splitting up.  Annabeth?”

         “Yes?” she replied, pulling Anora alongside Fredrick.

         “One of us needs to go find our friends before Hari and his men move them, or even Dagur.  Someone else should see if they can find Sirena before they move her,” I relayed.  Turning to Annabeth, I said, “As much as I want to stay with you, so I’m not letting you out of my sight, I already know who wants to go after Sirena.”

         “Thanks, Jarl,” Annabeth said.

         “Since Throst has proven himself,” I added.  “I would like him to go with you.  Is that alright?”

         “Yeah, that’s fine,” Annabeth agreed.  “As long as he can keep up with me.”

         Throst nervously changed dragons and got on behind Annabeth.  The only reason why I think Throst would be so nervous is because of changing dragons in mid-flight.  Other than that, I do not know what it could be.

         Before Annabeth broke off to go after Sirena, she nodded to me.  I nodded back.

         Annabeth has a better idea where Sirena would be; all I have is a general area.  I overheard Hari saying they were holding my friends in the southern part on of the island.  Where in that neighborhood, I will not know until I get down there.

         After several minutes of flying, Fredrick and I both spotted something out of the ordinary, at the same time.  Besides the obvious structure of a smaller looking “castle”, there are vikings of Hari’s men and Berserker vikings fighting each other.  Although, it seems as if the fight is about over, Hari’s men are driving the Berserker soldiers back towards the western side of the island.  As I was flying I saw Hari’s men start back towards the structure.  In the process, they also saw me.  They tried shooting a few arrows at me, but Fredrick nimble dodged each one; I had to duck out of the way of two.  By the time the two men saw that Fredrick is not going to stop flying at them, they tried to turn and run.  The two soldiers got a licking square in the back by Fredrick’s head.  The vikings sprawled out on to the ground, but not before tumbled several feet.  When they stopped rolling, they started groaning.  Yet, they managed to pick themselves up and help each other back the direction I came from.

         With all this commotion from both Hari’s and Dagur’s men, I believe they both tried to double cross the other and the other did not like it.  By what Dagur has done in the past, he probably threw the first punch and attack.

         Once I flew into the two vikings, I looped in a curve to the right and landed on the stone ground.  Every pathway on this island that is inside the limits of the giant fortress is laid with stone.

         I went over to the opening and noticed my dragon would not be able to fit through the door.  Fredrick’s body is too wide.  So, I told him to wait outside while I entered the structure.  I found nothing but a small dome with a stairway going down to the right and left just as you enter the dome.  There is a small round hole in the center of the dome floor; through the center of the hole is a round, wooden beam probably there to support the roof.  I walked down the steps to the left, went down a story, and saw a make shift wooden bridge going across to the other side of the tower where the other flight of stairs would go.  The stairs leveled out a few strides and continued downward.  I briefly looked back up to see my friends and sisters.  As my eyes came back down, I noticed a winch with a large, long chain going up to some other type of pully.  It looks like the cages can be lowered down to the wooden bridge and go back up.  I did not spend too much time studying the winch, but more or less the chain itself.  Seeing what I needed to see, I continued back up the stairs and went back over to the hole.

         “What are you guys hanging around here for?” I asked as I bent down to peak through the hole.

My friends are in cages, yet again made of the same green metal we keep seeing.  But in this case, the cages doors and bottom are some other type of regular metal.  The green metal looks very worn, beat up, and dented.  These cages are suspended from the ceiling with a giant drop beneath them.  The drop looks to be about fifty feet. 

         Asvord dryly responded, “Ha.  Ha.  Ha.  Very… funny.”

         “How’d you get in there?” I questioned, but could not hold back a smile.

         Asvord folded her arms, “We decided we wanted to check out these cages from the inside, so we came along with some of Hari’s men who showed us how to lock the cages from the inside.”

         Astrid, who is in the cage as well as Asvord, asked “Is your brother always like this?”

         Elsa nodded from the other cage and replied, “Unfortunately.”

         Giving the tower a quick study, it looks like there had been floors at one time, but they have either rotted out or have been destroyed by attacks as there are giant boulders at the bottom.  The walls are still intact, but comparing the stone blocks further down to the stone blocks in the floor I am laying on and the ones used in the dome covering me, the stone blocks are very different.  The ones below have moss and vines growing on them.  The stone blocks around me seem much newer.  Granted, the stone blocks around me still look pretty old and worn.  Compared to the other blocks, this tower was at once point rebuilt.  One other thing, based on who the damage of the tower looked on the inside all the way to the bottom, the stairs on the outside could only go down a couple of stories before being destroyed by the inner walls of the tower.

         Angie said, “If you care to get us out, please do so.”

         Cazi quickly added, “We would be much obliged.”

         “Oh I will,” I replied.  “I’ll be right back.  Don’t go away.”

         Asvord blatantly rolled her eyes and answered, “I don’t think we are going anywhere.  Are any of you guys leaving any time soon?”

         A chorus of, “No,” and “Nope,” among other similar things could be heard as I got back to my feet.  Exiting the tower dome, I quickly walked over to Fredrick, who is right outside the door, and reached into Fredrick’s right saddlebag to grab some rope.  The rope is a long rope, though fairly thin but still sturdy.  I tied one end of the rope to Fredrick’s prominent horn, in the front, double knotting the rope to be absolutely sure it would hold.  I ran the other end of the rope around my waist a few times, tying the end of the rope to my belt.  Re-entering the dome, I went back over to the hole and bent down, lying on the ground to ask them about how they were captured.

         While they talked, I draped the rope over the edge of the hole and let it dangle.  Next, I shimmed down the beam a couple feet until I was able to push off to the right and land on the top of Asvord’s cage.  In her cage are Astrid, Cazi, Explod, Angie, and Ali.  The other cage has Hiccup, Hyrith, Elsa, Garth, Meen, and Sapphire.

         “What are you doing?” Astrid demanded as I jumped from the beam to their cage.

         Because the cages are connected by a chain, they swayed quite a bit when I jumped in, I replied, “I was not expecting it to sway so much when I jumped.”

         “No, what are you trying to do?” she repeated.

         “What do you think I’m trying to do?” as I looked at four chains; two going back to the pully and the other two connecting the two cages.

         Cazi rhetorically retorted while trying to regain her balance before failing and going to her knees in the cage, “Give us a heart attack or kill us.  I’m on the fence for either one.  Any thoughts?”

         Hiccup answered my questioned, “He is trying to help us escape.”

         The other cage was only a two yards away from the cage I am on.  When I hopped back over to my right to the other, the cage swayed as well.

         Sapphire added, “He has a funny way of showing it.”

         While I worked my way down to the cages and between them questioning my way of rescuing them, they explained how they were captured.  Hiccup started out saying that after we all split up to look for Annabeth, he soon after that came across some vikings.  Hiccup, Cazi, Angie, and Asvord with Elsa all said they saw Hari’s men.  Astrid, Garth, Meen, and Explod all told me they saw Berserker soldiers.  Hyrith, Ali, and Sapphire did not see anybody.  Hiccup said he was able to evade Hari’s men, Cazi relayed she was able to as well but she had to get creative by timing her moves between the viking’s patrols, and Asvord and Elsa came across some activity on the western side involving Hari’s men loading cargo onto several ships.  Astrid took the eastern side of the island and saw the same thing Asvord and Elsa did, but with Berserker soldiers.  Garth, Meen, and Explod were all in the general vicinity of each other, but they did not see anything as they searched the northern half of the island.  Hyrith, Ali, and Sapphire said they spread out, somewhat, and went around the eastern side of the island closer to the fortress; they too saw a few Berserker soldiers, but hugging what little forest area there was they were able to make their way through.  Neither Hyrith nor Ali or even Sapphire saw anything of importance when they searched the southern regions.

         “How’d you get in these cages?” I questioned.

         “That’s just it,” spoke Angie.  “We don’t know.”

         “You don’t know?” I echoed.

         “Yes,” Angie said.

         Hiccup continued, “While we were searching, something such as a needle struck us in the back of the neck.  We only had enough time to feel what it was before be passed out.”

         “We all passed out the exact same way,” Astrid said.  “When we woke up, we were in these cages.”

         I declared, “Well, not for long.  Are you guys up for anything?”

         “Shore,” Asvord said for “sure”, yet she said it very hesitantly and with a tone of how a sister tells her brother, “Why are you asking us?  You are going to do it anyway.”  Even though Asvord did not say that, I knew she was thinking about it, so I replied, “I just wanted you to know so you did not freak out when something happens you weren’t expecting.”

         “What would we be expecting?” asked Cazi.

         I replied, “Hmm, just be ready for anything.”

         I could tell that everybody was very uneasy, but they all trusted me… but I guess they did not have any choice if they wanted to escape.

         What I did was slowly loosen the large chain by pulling on the side, where the chain went to the pully, through the loop of the cage to let the cage slowly down.  Since both the winch and the pully are somehow broken, it was relatively easy to pull on the chain.

         “Okay, when the cages are almost vertical,” I explained.  “Jump on the door.  The doors are very weak because the metal does not match.  They are worn and rusted.  Particularly jump on the door near the latch.  But be careful when you do, do jump through the door when as it opens.”

         Everyone acknowledged by nodding.

         As the cages neared vertical, I shifted myself to hold on to the sides of the cage, using the square holes as foot holds and hand holds; by doing this, I put little stress on the rope.  The cages slowly started swaying more and more as the one side of the chain grew longer, making the weight unbalanced to the right.  When the cages became no longer horizontal, I asked those in their respective cages to start jumping on the doors.  The rope attached to me barely has any slack now being nearly stretched to its full length.  Because I am next to the bottom cage, with the rope I am stabilizing the cages to minimize the sway.

         Within five minutes of people jumping, the doors finally gave in from each jump.  Both doors broke away from the green metal and flung open from the force of the jumper and gravity.  Each person in the cages took turns putting all they could into their jump.  Garth and Ali were the ones whose jump forced the doors open.  Those in the cages held on to each jumper so they would not go through the door when it did open.

         Asvord said from the higher cage, “Now genius, what are we going to do?”

         I stated, “You can either go up or down.  Go up by climbing on the cages and shimmy up the beam or make a human chain down to the bridge below.”

         Asvord, in a more serious and concentrated tone, decided, “I think we should go up.  Safer.”

         “I agree,” I answered.  “Plus, I’ll untie the rope from my waist and each one of you will use it as a security to go up.”

         Now, everybody firmly agreed on my plan.  The guys quickly and unanimously agreed to let all the girls go first.  Since I was already down at the bottom, Elsa, Meen, and Sapphire went first from the cage and in that order.

         One would not think Elsa’s small frame and her age would be good at climbing, but I think between her, Asvord, and I, Elsa is the best climber in the family.  She could be even better than dad who is a great climber in his own right.

         Elsa took little to no time to get up the cage, use the chains, and climb up the beam.  She did have to jump from the bottom cage to the top because of her stature, yet the reach to the other cage was very little so Elsa had no trouble grabbing the higher cage.  In the meantime, I entered the bottom cage.  This way my grip strength would not be shot; the rest would give me the strength to get myself back up.

         Once she climbed all the way up, Elsa let down the rope again.  Meen and Sapphire made their way up in a similar fashion.  Because Meen and Sapphire are taller, mainly because they are older, they took a fewer minutes.

         As soon as they were up, I asked Asvord if she is able to reach the rope.

“I think I—yeah I can reach it,” Asvord responded.

“All of you go ahead and get out of the cage,” I stated.

The rest of the girls were now able to climb to safety.  In this order, Angie, Cazi, Asvord, Astrid, and Ali, took their turns climbing out and up.  With each proceeding person, they took less and less time.  It may just be a few seconds shorter, but each second counts right now.  I did not want to alarm anybody, but the pully’s supports on the ceiling were wobbling quite a bit by the time Ali took her turn.  Explod emptied the bottom cage and made his way up.

         Draping down the rope once more, Garth was the next one to go.  Hiccup insisted the others go first.  Knowing Hiccup, I think he could see what I was seeing as the look on his face is hinting at worriedness, but still with confidence that we will make it up.  Hiccup wanted to be sure the others made it first.

         As soon as Hyrith and Garth had completed the climb, Hiccup looked at me, “Now it is your turn.”

         I replied, while tying the rope around Hiccup’s waist, “That’s right, it is -your- turn.”

         “No that’s not-.”

         I interrupted, “I know it isn’t, but we’re wasting time.”

         Hiccup reluctantly went, but agreed there is not much time left.

         Time for what you might say?  Oh, nothing big.  Just that the bolts in the loops through which the chain goes are now seriously loose… nothing big.

         Hiccup climbed with urgency and finished the climb the fastest.

         “Come on!” Hiccup yelled.  “Hurry up!”

         I could hear the others up top saying, “Hurry?  What do you mean hurry?  What’s wrong?!”

         I could distinctly hear Asvord say, “What’s wrong?!”

         When the rope was tossed down, I heard a snap followed by a ping sound… The pully with the supports finally had too much stress on them from the extra weight from the imbalance of the cages and broke away from the ceiling.

         In the blink of an eye, I reacted to the sound by climbing out of the cage without the rope tied to my waist.  A half a moment after I reacted, the cages started falling downward.  I climbed out of the cage with just my hands, feet dangling below.  In a single motion, I grabbed the cage twice, left hand, right hand, swinging my whole body, especially my legs, and let go to reach for the rope.  As my momentum carried me up, I grabbed the rope and instinctively looped my hand over the rope to be sure I had a firm grip on it.  My momentum also swung me out of the way as the cages crashed down below.

         Not waiting around to look at the carnage below, I went right into an upward climb on a rope; I used only my upper body strength.  This would zap my strength quicker, but it is a faster way to get up.  As I climbed left over right, I could feel a loose tension in the rope.  The rope almost had a spring or bounce in the tension.

         While I climbed upwards, I could see the ceiling started to crack under all the strain from the pull of the cages and chains.  The ceiling only cracked and stayed intact, for now.  Moments later, Hiccup held out his right hand so I could be pulled up.  I reached with my right hand and grabbed Hiccup’s hand.  He pulled me up with both of his hands and arms.  Astrid helped keep a hold of Hiccup, who was making sure he did not come down with me; Hiccup was lying on the top of the ceiling bending over the side from his waist up.  Asvord also steadied Astrid, for the same reason, but for Astrid and Hiccup… and probably me as well… to fall down.

         “Thanks,” I replied once in on top of the ceiling.  “Let’s get out of here.”

         “Why?” asked Elsa.

         “That crackin’ noise ain’t popcorn over a fire,” I answered back.

         We all rushed out of the tower entrance.  Behind us the floor of the dome crumbled under all the pressure, almost a minute after we escaped.

Nobody was expecting Fredrick to be there, so he was a surprise to most.  They all noticed the rope tied to his snout.

         Ali gave a quick, “Ha,” one you would do after you barely made something work, “Only Fredrick was holding us up.”

         I was about to defend my dragon, but Ali quickly added, “Don’t get me wrong.  I know Thunderdrums have underestimated strength, even with their small legs.  I guess I’m more surprised his footing held up and the knot you tied did as well.  Oh, and the fact we almost died.”

         Asvord sighed, shrugged, and made her eyes wide, “Sheez!  Let’s not forget that.”

         “I don’t know if you noticed,” Hiccup said.  “But the rope tore and broke from the stress on the edge of the hole.”
         I whistled, “I thought something felt odd, with the hole bouncy-es-ness of the rope.”

         Astrid echoed and questioned, “Bouncy-es-ness?”

         “Yes,” I returned.  “I think I deserve to make a new word after that daring escape.  Since you and Hiccup pulled me up, I now grant you two, two new words to add to our vocabulary and our Berkian dictionary, most humble, Astrid,” I concluded with a bow.

         Astrid could only muster an, “Ugg,” with a roll of the eyes and a pinch of disgust.  “That is something Snotlout or the Twins would say.  After, I go through anything dangerous and exhilarating, they are the last three people I want to think about.”

         I left Asvord speechless.  Elsa was able to tease and say, “Only you could say that.”

         I was about to open my mouth and say, “Thank you,” but what she said did not quite sound right.  I replied, “Don’t know if that was a complement or an insult.”

         “Both,” She grinned.

         I could only smile and chuckled.  I also let out a big sigh of relief.

         “Well,” I declared, mounting Fredrick.  “Rest is for weary, and I’m only tired.”

         Cazi stated, “That—does not make any sense, whatsoever.”

         “I know,” I said.  “I was thinking of Snotlout.”

         “Stop it!” Astrid demanded and made a face to match.

         I could only laugh.  Some of the guys laughed, even Hiccup started to.  As Astrid started to a glare at Hiccup, Hiccup stopped.

         “Sorry,” I said.  “That was not nice.”

         “Oh it was not nice alright,” Astrid assured.  “Funny, but not nice.”

         After not understanding what Elsa said, what Astrid said sounded like it was supposed to be good; yet, why am I left feeling it was not?

         Something my father said came to mind, “If you don’t understand what a woman says, don’t even try to understand.  Just take it as a compliment and move on, even if it could be taken as a bad thing.  They mean it in a good way.  It is just in their own ‘unique’ way.”

         What my dad said there at the end of the statement could be taken the wrong way, but it was a good way to make his point.

         “Where are you going?” Asvord asked as I nudged Fredrick into the air.

Fredrick still had the rope attached.  I tied the knots so well, I could not get them untied.

         “To go after Annabeth and help her,” I returned.

         “What about us?” Asvord demanded.

         “You’re too…,” I began to say but changed to, “You have your own dragon.  Dragon call them too you.”

         “You were going to say something else!” She yelled as Fredrick started to fly away.  “Something pertaining to me being too heavy.”

         “But I didn’t!” I called back.

         Okay, now that all my friends are safe, time to go after Annabeth -again- and make sure she is safe.