"Dragon"
"human"
FOUND
Hiccup dug his trembling hands into the thick leather of the saddle. Hissing and growling profanities at the caravan below had come upon the group during the high sun four tales in , dragging the rotting corpses of the men and some of the woman on hastily built carts. All but two of the pups had been killed and some of the prettier village woman. Hiccup very much doubted that the woman would want anything more than a quick death. He had witnessed a few of the more broken ones deliberately provoke their captors.
"Worthless little worms." Hiccup spat. Toothless hissed his agreement, " T-t-the w-worms s-should b-b-be p-put in t-t-t-their place. B-bled and r-roasted li-like a s-stuck pig." Hiccup nodded. Leveling a narrowed eye stare at the metal cage that was holding the pups and women. The metal was burning them, made worse was the fact that they wore no garments. His hands dug further into the saddle.
"Brother, the pups?"
Toothless flared his nostrils in answer, scenting the wind. " M-male and f-f-female, o-only a f-f-few su-summers old." He took another whiff and growled. " T-t-they a-a-are bo-both injured, the f-f-female pup i-is s-sick… s-s-she will n-n-need great h-healing, ot-otherwise…"
Hiccup swiftly unhooked the bow from his back, grabbing and notching one of the arrows from a quiver attached to the dragons side. "Get as close to the ground as you can, cause as much havoc as you can and i'll grab the pups. Spare the woman. They can decide for themselves if they want to live or not. As much as i hate to admit it, we don't have the time to do much more." They were already two days overdue, and the pups would put them behind even further. Flying straight when injured in anyway would only make the problem worse.
Toothless nodded, tensing his wings.
"T-the Q-Q-Queen will nn-not b-b-be ha-happy b-brother."
Hiccup grimaced , no she would not.
SAVED
Fire and sand exploded around them. Shouts and screams rang through their ears. The cage was toppled and they could only stare in fear and awe as one of the most rarest of dragons rained hell fury down upon their captors. Then a masked man appeared, covered in black and a bow strapped to his back, sword in hand. Growling at them and gesturing them away from the bars of the cage. They complied and soon the wall came down. He immediately went to the children and cradled them in his arms. One brave woman shouted in denial, begging the man to spare at least let the children live.
"They will not be harmed." His voice was gravelly, as if unused to speech. "They will be safe." And the woman saw how he held them. Kind, gently, and mindful of the children's injuries. She looked into his eyes then, greener than a fresh pasture in spring, and filled with kindness and sorrow. Protector. Is what she thought, this man was a protector, a chieftain. The man nodded to her, a whispered sorry and he was gone. The women watched silently as he mounted the black devil and took to the skies.
Smoke and fire and the smell of burning flesh was all that was left in his wake.
WATCHER
A man with a shock of red hair puffed on his pipe, gazing at the slowly retreating figure on the sky line. His men picking through the mass of bodies for any survivors, some of them tending to the females. Giving help to those who wanted it, and offering a blade to those who did not. He hummed sadly as all but one walked off into the rolling hills of sand, though he did not blame them for it.
"Sir, we have found two."
The man took one last pull from the pipe, a sadistic grin covering his face as he exhaled the smoke. "Well then, shall we get to work?"
He took one last long look at the horizon. The general would need to know about this.