Chapter 21: My Story...At Least What I Can Remember

Hiccup

"Are you insane, do you have any idea what you have done?!"

"It had to be done, it was the only way!"

"Viggo this wasn't the way, do you know the consequence which can come from this. Aryan...Ashley, do you have any idea what they will do now?!"

"Then we stop them before they can do anything they regret."

All I could hear were these noises getting louder with agitation coming from outside my room. I was about seven or eight years old by now and I was getting to grips with the nature of my home. It was great most of the time but then the others times it was always terror. I never could understand what happened with my brothers; at least that's what they were to me. Viggo and Ryker Grimborn, that's how I had to know them by because apart from their father, they were also the only family that I had, I saw best to call them that and they were told to call me the same. It was clear that Viggo never enjoyed my presence and he always did things to make sure that my life was a living hell. He didn't care from the punishment he got from our father but that was his goal; make sure that I would suffer. It started to get old and I was used to it, but the moment I heard those words conferring between him and his brother I knew that something was terribly wrong and sure that it couldn't be good whatever was going to come next.

At this time I was in my room asleep, the voices between their conversations kept getting louder from outside my window and if they wanted to keep it private, it was clear it wasn't working because I could hear everything. As did I hear footsteps increasing towards my room as they mentioned Aryan and Ashley's names. Fear was striking at my heart in this point in time because I was afraid of the outtake which might have occurred. I prayed in my heart that our father would be there to open the door. Instead I had something better; it was Aryan himself so it made my heart leap for joy. He rushed into my room immediately not giving me time to even speak. As he came closer to me it was evident blood circulated the whole of his hands, the terror was highlighted in his expression. He raised me up in his arms automatically without a single hesitation, my arms wrapped around him securely because I knew within his arms I was safe; as I was rested against him all I could feel was the shudder of his heart, he was scared, I knew that but I'd never known Aryan to be scared before and this frightened me the most.

He suddenly ran out from my room, everywhere he went, he made sure that no one was around. I was unsure to why but as we got to the outside gates I heard an almighty cry come from the place we just ran from. Viggo's scream was shattering and at that point it was clear he was looking for me. Again I was unsure to why. I may have been seven or eight but I wasn't completely useless in the head, so the only conclusion which faltered through my brain was my existence was made un-existence. Aryan had rushed us to the docks and at that point he called out Ashley's name, a clear indication that he was meant to meet her here with me. She was nowhere to be found. At this point, Viggo had made his presence known at the docks, Ryker by his side with Ashley has him hostage. I remember his words like it were yesterday, he called it a life for a life, and it was a trade for Ashley as long as he had me. But it wasn't just Ashley's life he had to trade for, but the baby that she was carrying inside her.

It wasn't fair, it wasn't a fair trade and Aryan knew this as did Ashley. All I could see from the fear in my eyes was Ashley shaking her head, she was willing to give up her own child for me and I never understood why. Aryan couldn't do it though and that was something I could understand, I didn't want to be the dilemma to bringing a child into the world. That child deserves a better life than I do those were the words which kept running through my brain. So Aryan made the trade. It was with great hesitation that he made the trade; his grip on me was so tight that when one of the guards went to take me away from him, they couldn't get me pulled away because he didn't want to let go. But it didn't matter, with a click of Viggo's fingers Ryker stabbed Ashley's stomach with his sword, killing the child inside her. I was taken back inside as I watched from behind Aryan cradling Ashley his arms, tears were both welling from my eyes, Aryan's and Ashley's. He was able to get Ashley back inside and healed...but yes, the baby could not be saved so no victory was succeeded for them that day and it seemed to be all because of me. And I've been carrying that guilt with me forever.

From that moment on I found my new home in that place; they kept me in isolation for days on end, I had no food, no water, no nothing and I couldn't understand what I had done to hurt them so much. One day the door to my isolation was re-opened and that's when the hell part of my life began. The first time I set foot out of that tower and gazed upon the home I used to know, it had all changed, it was nothing like I remembered it. It seemed that Viggo had got his own way, a way I didn't know and from that moment onwards I never saw our father again. That was something I didn't understand either. It was as if he had vanished from the surface of the Earth. It was now my time to start working, one day I would work with Aryan and other days I would work with Ashley. It did occur to me why he would let me work with the after what they did, but he always said it was none of my business and told me everything I had to do. If I wanted to stay alive and keep them safe I'd have to do everything him and his brother say. I would work every day, this was a way to earn the food and drink they could offer me and the stuff they did give me was a slice of mouldy bread and a quarter cup of water after everything I did.

Sometimes I got something extra, but that was very rare. It went on for years, but the more I went and did work with Aryan, I met Toothless. He was just like me, true he was quite frightening at first but I mean who wouldn't be scared of the holy offspring of lightening and death itself. But then when I looked at him, I saw myself and I knew that he felt the same when he looked upon me and from that we started to bond with each other. It was something that I didn't even think was possible between boy and dragon but I was extremely pleased that it was possible. However, I had to make sure that neither Viggo nor Ryker found out about him because otherwise everything would be ruined than it already was. Aryan helped make sure they didn't find out, as did Ashley, so whenever we kept moving islands, they made sure Toothless was the first dragon they moved into the cages on the ship because they understood we couldn't be apart from each other. It was the only thing that was keeping a sense of hope and love in our hearts.

Whenever Viggo was in a bad mood, he would take his anger out on him. That's when every now and again he found pleasure in the sport of torturing me; he notified me that he found the screams I cried amused him highly and made him feel alive and afterwards, it did make his mood feel better. It didn't help me though sometimes it got so bad Aryan had to treat me for days on end which put a delay on work, but that wasn't my fault, it was Viggo's. I couldn't ever understand why all this happened to me, I never wanted it to, I always thought they were family, but the more I stayed the more I found they weren't and they wouldn't ever be. The only people there who felt like family to me were Aryan and Ashley and it was clear that they felt the same for me. So every now and again, I made plans of my own; I knew that it was time to take matters into my own plans so I tried a couple of escape of my owns but they never actually did end well at all. I always ended up back in the same situation I was in before and the treatment I got started to get worse and worse.

As time flew on by, I started to give up because I understood at this point I was never going to be able to get out and I couldn't reply on anyone because they would either get hurt in the process or because no one from the outside world knew that I even existed. Sometimes when we would move islands Aryan advised me it was because of people from my fathers past, he knew them pretty well and one day wanted to find peace with them, but after his disappearance it wasn't possible because Viggo had a different agenda of his own. Then one day I decided to do another escape and at this point I thought I finally had a chance but again I was wrong. I was thinking that maybe if I got out, I could get to these people and they could help me but it was no use because I never set a foot off the island. The punishment this time for was this...the decapitation of my left leg; they figured that the best way to let me endure pain was I guess to be rid of a limb and a way of trying to teach me a lesson. Ashley helped to make the prosthetic and it took me a while to get to grips with it, I stumbled around a few times but after a few practises I got the hang of it.

But the strangest thing I found was, that the people who always invaded, never came back. So I was left to the normal life I always lead, sleep, work, try and run, get tortured and try it all again. For years it kept happening until one day Aryan and Ashley stepped in, they couldn't stand it anymore and knew that I couldn't stay a minute longer, not anymore. I and Ashley worked for days on Toothless's saddle and tail...again a consequence for something I did after the found out about him...and when it was finally ready we made the moment perfect and made our escape and I took the Dragon Eye with me because all the things I watched them do with it, I couldn't let proceed any further.