Beyond the Edge
I don't own How to Train Your Dragon
It has been a long time since I've writen anything in this fandom, three years, and a lot has changed, the second movie was released as well as the Netflix series this is based off of.
Vigo and the hunters had been strangely quiet lately. No one had spotted a hunter ship in weeks, Hiccup was determined to find out why. Had the hunters moved on to other waters? He looked over his map and frowned. The last Hunter ship sighting had been far to the west, that had been over a month ago.
Hiccup rolled up his map and left his hut, bumping into Astrid.
"Oh, hey Astrid!" He said quickly hiding the map behind his back.
Astrid frowned at him. "You're going out to look for the hunters again, aren't you?" She asked.
"No, what are you talking about?' Hiccup said.
"Give it to me," Astrid said holding out her hand for the map.
"Fine," Hiccup said handing over the map. "Don't you think it's a little odd that the Hunters have suddenly disappeared?"
"Hiccup, you need to let this go," Astrid "You've been searching for months."
Hiccup and Toothless were scouting for Dragon Hunter ships, they had been out all day, when Hiccup finally spotted a ship in the distance, at first glance, it was abandoned, but as they flew closer, they both noticed the ship had taken damage and was listing to the side badly.
"Careful buddy," Hiccup said as Toothless landed on the deck.
"What on earth happened here?" he wondered aloud, looking around seeing several dead bodies, some with sword wounds, familiar looking scorch marks covered the deck. After searching the ship, Hiccup found no clues as to who had attacked the vessel.
"Weird," Hiccup commented returning to Toothless, getting back into the saddle. "Let's head back to the Edge."
-Back at the Edge-
"Which one of you attacked and sunk that Dragon Hunter ship to the west?" Hiccup asked landing, getting off Toothless, looking at Heather and Astrid.
"Whoa, someone sunk a Dragon trapper ship?" Ruffnutt asked.
"Sunk is an understatement, there was nothing left, the entire crew was killed!" Hiccup said.
"I didn't do it," Heather said rubbing Windshear's neck. "Windshear and I have been here all day."
"Then who attacked the ship?" Astrid asked as thunder rumbled ominously in the distance.
"We'll figure it out tomorrow," Hiccup said. "No one is going anywhere in this storm."
The next morning, after the storm had passed, Hiccup and the other Riders set out to search for the mysterious Dragon Rider. They soon found another half sunken ship and landed on the deck to investigate.
"Hiccup, do these burn marks look familiar to you?" Fishlegs asked when they landed on the deck.
"They do," Hiccup said, but he couldn't place what dragon they belonged to. "Alright, spread out and look for any clues."
"Hiccup, we're not going to find anything here," Astrid said. "Any clues left behind would have been washed away by the storm last night."
"Astrid is right," Fishlegs said. "Whoever did this was very thorough."
Snotlout and the twins emerged from below deck.
"Did you find anything down there?" Hiccup asked.
"Goose egg," Snotlout said.
"So whoever attacked the ship killed the crew, but they freed the Dragons," Hiccup said.
"Whoever it is, they clearly aren't a friend of the Dragon Hunters," Astrid said climbing back up onto Stormfly. "We'll need to continue searching."
While continuing their search, the Riders found four more ships, all had been attacked similarly, the crew killed, and the Dragons all set free.
"I think we should find a Dragon Hunter ship and follow it until our mystery rider attacks it," Heather suggested after they had found a fifth ship capsized in the water. "It's the only way we're going to be able to catch this guy."
"I agree," Hiccup said.
Finding a hunter ship to follow was easier said than done, it turned out. The riders spent hours searching for another hunter ship.
"Hiccup, it's getting dark maybe we should head back and continue the search tomorrow," Astrid said.
"Astrid is right," Snotlout said.
"Wow Snotlout, I didn't think you've ever agreed with Astrid on anything," Fishlegs said.
"I don't, look," Snotlout said pointing at a Stormfront. "There is no way I'm flying through that."
Hiccup looked at the Stormfront and the lightning flashing in the clouds.
"Wait a minute…" He said watching the flashes.
"I know that face, and no, there is no way I'm flying into that!" Snotlout said.
"What are you thinking?" Astrid asked Hiccup. "A Skrill?"
"I dunno, maybe," Hiccup said watching the lightning for a moment before suddenly flying off towards the storm.
"Ugh, I hate it when he does that!" Snotlout complained following hiccup into the storm. "If I die, I'm gonna kill you Hiccup!"
"There's a pattern to the flashes, look," Hiccup said.
"You're right," Astrid said watching the flashes.
As soon as they started, the flashes suddenly stopped.
"What's going on?" Fishlegs asked.
"Shh! Listen!" Astrid hissed.
Soon after the sounds of fighting reached their ears, the clashing of metal, a roar, followed by the screams of the dying.
"Welp, I'm out!" Snotlout said turning Hookfang around.
The sounds eventually died out leaving the riders in an eerie silence. Lightning flashed revealing the silhouette of a dragon and rider in front of them.
"Hiccup is that a…" Fishlegs started to ask, but Hiccup was already gone, chasing after the rider.
"Have I mentioned that I really hate it when he does that!" Snotlout said.
"Come on buddy, faster," Hiccup said as Toothless chased after the dragon and rider.
The dark gray dragon seemed to blend in with the storm clouds, Hiccup could only see it when it was illuminated by lightning. It seemed to be slightly faster than Toothless as well, he couldn't seem to be able to keep up.
Toothless also had to battle the storm which didn't help. Hiccup was afraid the harsh winds would tear the tailfin off, it already getting difficult to control it, the high speed turns the other dragon was making didn't help.
"We have to end this now, Toothless fire a warning shot!" Hiccup said over the storm. "But don't hit the Dragon!"
Toothless fired a plasmablast at the dragon and its rider, Hiccup watched it fly past the Dragon, the dragon banked to the right and disappeared into the storm clouds for cover.
Hiccup followed on Toothless, diving into the clouds, after them. Hiccup soon spotted them, but the other dragon was still far ahead of them, too far for Hiccup to make out which type of Dragon it was. He had to end this chase soon, it was becoming too difficult to control Toothless's tailfin.
"Fire another shot," Hiccup said, "Show them we mean business."
Toothless fired another plasma blast at the Dragon as if sensing it the dragon flared its wings, slowing down drastically, causing Toothless roll to avoid hitting the Dragon.
"Whoa!" Hiccup exclaimed gripping the saddle to keep from falling off.
Toothless came to a stop and turned around to see the other dragon, hovering mere yards away from him and Hiccup. It's rider brandishing a sword.
The two dragons hovered in the air, mere yards apart, lightning flashed between the two dragons, fully illuminating the other. Revealing it as a dark gray almost black Nightfury. Hiccup gasped and starred in shock, another Nightfury. When the lightning flashed again, both the dragon and rider had dissapeared into the clouds once more.
Who is this mysterious new Dragon Rider? Where did he come from? Why does he have a Nightfury? All questions will be answered in the next chapter.