Two weeks. It had been two weeks since they'd left their lives behind. The village of Berk was just one of many islands attacked by dragons. If Berk's people were to survive, they knew they had to venture out beyond the archipelago. Thanks to Trader Johann's knowledge of the seas and secret travel routes, the villagers had made good time, reaching the border within three days, and unharmed. But eleven days beyond the border of the archipelago, with nary an island in sight was beginning to wear thin on the normally tough and gruff vikings. With supplies running dangerously low, the vikings had rationed out their food and drinkable water a week ago. They had maybe another day's worth of food for everyone before they would have to battle starvation completely.
Stoick stood at the bow of Trader Johann's vessel. He scowled at the horizon, seemingly cursing it for having no land in sight for them to settle and restock. It was frustrating. He and his people seemed doomed to suffer famine until extinction. Even Johann's supplies had dwindled to inedible trinkets and baubles that while normally priceless, were worth nothing to the starved.
"Chief Stoick," Johann said, addressing the large viking. Stoick turned around to face the man who had been kind enough to suffer alongside his people. Before Johann spoke again, Stoick guessed he was going to try and separate from the group of ships. To his surprise, this wasn't the case. "I feel I must inform you that we are about to enter into a warzone." the sailor said. Stoick raised a ginger brow.
"I don't hear battle nearby, there doesn't seem to be any sign of an army on the horizon." Stoick said, wondering what Johann meant by his words.
"Nor will you find any. When I say we're about to enter a warzone, what I mean is we're entering a region where war can break out at any time. There are two factions," Johann paused as some of the vikings gathered around to hear his tale,. Astrid and the others among them. "One of these factions consists of dragon hunters. They are experts when it comes to hunting and capturing or killing dragons. I'm sorry to say that they make you fine people seem like amateurs." While some of the vikings took offence to that last remark, the rest, Stoick included remained silent, waiting for Johann to continue.
"The second faction consists of the exact opposite. These people are few by comparison, but strong. They are mysterious and everybody I've asked seems to know next to nothing about them. However, there is one consistency throughout every tale I've heard. I've taken to calling them 'Dragonriders'." Johann waved his hands as if to add flair to the title. This caused a ruckus amongst the group that had listened to his tale. Stoick himself seemed perturbed by this information.
"Impossible. Dragons are savage mindless beasts. You'd have better luck riding a rabid yak." said Gobber, hobbling up to the group to stand next to Stoick. Most of the vikings agreed. Snotlout still seemed angry.
"I bet I could kill a Dragonrider with one hand." said Snotlout in his obnoxious manner. Ruffnut and Tuffnut silently agreed with him, a pair of chuckles indicating that in truth, they doubted the viking's strength.
"I doubt it, Master Snotlout. The hunters number in the thousands, while the riders are rumoured to be less than a hundred, yet the hunters are still losing the war." Johann said. This caused Snotlout to turn silent as he seemingly reconsidered his previous statement.
"Maybe two hands?" he said uncertainly, trying to salvage what little pride he could.
While the other vikings continued to talk about these new warring factions, Stoick turned back to the horizon. 'Regardless, neither the hunters nor the riders are our concern right now. We're nowhere near land, and we've only enough food to last one more day.' he thought.
The following morning, Astrid awoke to the cold morning air. Opening her eyes, she noticed almost immediately the fog that had drifted in. Like many of her fellow vikings, she had slept outside on the deck of one of the ships. The cold morning air bit into her skin, and she naturally tried to cover her arms in her hands, rubbing them up and down.
Doing little to comfort her, Astrid tried to walk around the ship to warm herself up. She expertly and stealthily avoided tripping over and waking her fellow vikings, most of whom were splayed all over the deck, fast asleep. She could hear some of their stomachs rumbling in their sleep, which immediately made her think of food herself. Although she took pride in being one of the strongest vikings in the village, she had to admit that the hunger was getting to her. Lately, she would react to one of Snotlout's foolish and brazen comments even before he'd said anything. Her hunger was beginning to affect her overall mood, and she found herself thinking about things that would get her thrown overboard if they ever came to light.
Cold and hungry, Astrid decided to sit on the ship's stempost, the dragon head carved at the top large enough to seat her. As she sat herself down, she rested a foot into the open mouth of the wooden dragon and perched an arm on her hiked up knee. She sat there, looking out to the horizon, trying to rid her mind of any negative thoughts. As loyal as she was to her people, she just couldn't help but think. If there hadn't been so many of us, we might not be starving right now. She quickly shook her head free of the thought and looked dead ahead. The ship she was on was at the head of the small fleet, beside Trader Johann's vessel. The group of ships were packed so close together, it didn't take much effort to hop from one ship to the next.
As she looked tiredly out on the horizon, something caught her eye. A section of the fog was slightly darker than the rest, and it was growing even darker by the second. Astrid squinted to try and make out the source of this darkness, when she saw it. Two distinct stemposts curved and shaped to look like a pair of spiked talons connected to a massive ship. Astrid took a few seconds to register this. She couldn't believe it; just when the people of Berk were about to give up… She snapped into action.
"Ship, dead ahead!" she called out to any who would hear her. Her sudden cry out woke nearly every viking on the ship and the two closest to it. Among the vikings awoken was Stoick.
The chief jumped over to Astrid and had her point out where she saw the ship. As Stoick followed the direction her finger was pointing, he then saw the two talons on the bow of the oncoming ship. It was a frightening looking vessel, and that was just the front.
"Wake the others. We can't guarantee that they'll be friend or foe. I want every viking ready to fight should the need present itself." Stoick ordered Astrid. As she went off to follow his command, the large viking tried to examine the ship further. As it grew closer, Stoick noticed that the vessel had been in a fight recently. Scorch marks coated the hull like bruises on a reckless child. As more of the ship came into view, Stoick noticed the sails had been torn to shreds, so much so, it was a miracle the vessel could even move. Gobber approached the chief.
"Ye know, if it's a ghost ship, could be there's food and water on board. We could really do with a break, Stoick." Stoick knew Gobber was right, of course. But what if it wasn't a ghost ship? Would whoever was on board be willing to part with what they had? The chief didn't like the idea of turning to piracy to survive. He decided to turn to more positive thoughts.
"This ship does more than provide us with a chance to replenish our stocks, Gobber. If a ship is out here, then that means we're getting close to civilisation, and therefore," he left the final word hanging in the air for Gobber to pick up on it. And pick up on it he did.
"Land! Of course. That'll boost people's spirits, alright." the man replied, a crooked grin plastering his face. As the villagers all looked towards the oncoming ship, something happened that gave them all pause. Stoick tried to squint his eyes for a better view, hoping he'd imagined it. But everybody saw it, and didn't know what to make of it.
The ship visibly jerked, as if having been reigned in like a horse before returning to it's original position towards them.
"What in Thor's name was that?!" one of the villagers asked. Everybody was on the lookout for another motion like the last, but none ever came. Finally, the entirety of the ship came into view. It measured at least fifty meters in length and nine meters wide. Easily four times the size of the ships Berk's people inhabited.
"Get ready to board! We're going to investigate the ship! Be on guard, whatever caused the ship to jerk like that could still be on board!" Stoick shouted as the vessels separated to surround the larger of the vessels. When Johann saw the shredded symbol on the mainsail, he grabbed Stoick's attention.
"Chief, that symbol; this is a hunter ship. If memory serves, this is a dreadnought class ship. One of their larger vessels. If it's this badly damaged, you should be extra careful." the man said.
"I'm grateful for your advice, Johann. However, I suspect that whatever did this is gone now." Stoick replied. Vikings began to throw grappling hooks onto the deck of the ship as it came in range. Stoick began to climb one of the dozen ropes. As he set foot on the deck of the ship, he was amazed by the amount of damage done to it. The deck itself looked like it might crumble under the pressure of new crew members. Spitelout followed Stoick on board, and gave more or less the same reaction. Splinters and fallen pieces of the mast littered the deck, black scorch marks could be seen everywhere and some weapons and shields lay resting with dried blood coating them. What unnerved the vikings was the lack of bodies present.
"This is worse than the last time we came back trying to find the dragons' nest two years ago." Spitelout commented, walking over to pick up one of the bloodied swords. He slid his tongue along the edge. "Dragon blood. Ye can taste the smokiness in the blood." he said, dropping the sword back onto the ground. The noise rang out and echoed throughout the ship. Stoick listened for any reaction, but heard nothing. It was deathly silent on board the ship. The ginger viking began to feel unnerved.
"Let's not push our luck. Search the ship for food and water." he commanded.
"Where are you going?" Spitelout asked. Stoick made his way towards the stern of the ship.
"I have a feeling I know what caused the ship to move the way it did earlier." he replied coldly, his path set.
Gobber had difficulty climbing the ropes, on account of his hook and pegleg. However, with the aid of Astrid and the rest of his former students, the blacksmith managed to board the vessel. Upon seeing the destruction, the viking whistled.
"Odin's skivvies! This place is messier than my last relationship. The fallout looks about the same though." he said. While his former students stewed in that image, Gobber made his way to the rear of the ship, where he noticed his old friend examining the floor.
Gobber followed Stoick's examinations and noticed the deep gashes in the wood. "What ye thinking?" he asked.
Stoick traced his fingers along the claw marks. "I'm thinking this is what caused the ship to jerk. A dragon took off from this end." Gobber took a closer look at the claw marks and gashes. He noticed the distance between them, and the depth of each mark.
"Not just any dragon, but a big one, going by the marks." gobber commented.
"How big are we talking here?"
"I'd say it'd be about fifteen meters long. Maybe... seven meters high. And heavy, if it rocked a ship this big." Stoick's eyes widened.
"Do you think it could be…"
"I doubt it's the same dragon that took Valka, Stoick. But it could be the same kind of dragon." Gobber said, reading his friend's mind.
Stoick scowled as he looked down at the claw marks. He had never forgotten the face of the dragon that took his wife from him. A few moments silence were interrupted by a very distinct cry of pain.
"OH, I'M HURT! I AM VERY MUCH HURT!" the two heard Tuffnut cry out. Stoick and Gobber both sighed in annoyance.
"Thor's sake! Always something with that lad." Gobber commented as the two went to investigate.
Turns out the inside of the ship was laced with boobytraps, the first of which had been activated by Tuffnut blindly descending the stairs into the interior. Once he'd made contact with the ground, a hidden bear trap clamped itself around his leg. The poor boy would need to avoid walking for a while.
The oceans were calm as a dragon with four wings skimmed the surface. The dragon was a Stormcutter, a fairly large dragon by normal standards, but by no means bulky or slow. A person rode atop the stormcutter. Unidentifiable behind the tusk clad mask, the person wore chest armor and large armbands with talons above their hands. They also wore a red, torn cape and strips of fabric around the waist.
The rider stood on the back of the dragon, having gotten used to balancing on the large creature. Looking back, the rider saw four dragons following close behind. This was by design. These four dragons had been held captive for a number of years, and left for dead upon evacuation of the village that held them. Each dragon was a different species. One was a blue Deadly Nadder with yellow highlights and a tan underbelly. Flying just behind her was an orange and red monstrous nightmare. Beside him was a forest green zippleback. And bringing up the rear was a sandy brown gronckle. These four dragons were reluctant to trust humans again. Fortunately, the stormcutter's rider was adept at gaining the trust of dragons.
Together, the strange group approached a large island. This island was unlike any other. It contained a village like any other, but at the centre of this village stood a tower. This tower stood three hundred meters tall. While built upon a combination of wood and stone, the outside was reinforced with a particularly versatile metal. Near the top of the tower, one of the floors had no walls and held up the remaining three floors with reinforced support pillars. This floor was a take-off and landing area for dragons of various shapes and sizes. The stormcutter led the other dragons to the landing area. This particular floor was as tall as it was wide. As the five dragons and the rider finally landed, they were greeted by a young dark haired girl accompanied by a razorwhip. The girl had green eyes and wore a long-sleeve light gray shirt with a black, short sleeved hooded shirt over it. She also had a brown leather vest, dark gray pants, and brown boots, three black belts, as well as one that holds her horn. metallic-like scales donned her shoulder guards, bracers, knee pads, and skirt. She went to greet the new arrivals.
"Welcome home, Valka. I see you managed to break Berk's prisoners out of jail." the girl said, placing a hand on her hip as she stood with a confident pose.
The rider named Valka removed their mask to reveal a mature yet still beautiful woman behind it. She smiled at the young girl. "Indeed I did. It's not that difficult to do when the guards have abandoned their post in favor of surviving." she replied. The girl just chuckled as she approached the nadder, holding out a gentle hand towards it. The nadder went to bite her hand, but stopped as it noticed her eyes. The sharp pupils, the slight glow that was reminiscent of something the dragon thought to only be a legend. Unsure how to respond, the nadder merely let the girl take the lead, and was rewarded with kindness and affection in the form of a gentle pat on the nose. Such an unfamiliar feeling.
"Poor things. They thought they were going to starve to death in those cold, dark cages." she said, her face portraying concern for the uncertain and generally frightened dragons. "Their recovery will be difficult, but also the perfect challenge for some of the students." she added, moving to scratch the nadder under the chin. The dragon keeled over in pleasure almost instantly. The girl just chuckled.
"How are the students doing?" Valka asked. This elicited a laugh from the girl.
"They're doing just fine, but their Dragonese classes are suffering a bit, due to their teacher being absent. I've tried to fill in as best I can, but I don't have the same flair for it as he does." she said, flaring her hands as she spoke. Valka chuckled.
"And where is it he has gone?" she asked. Another voice sounded within their minds, drawing their attention to a Night Fury with a prosthetic tail.
"He went out to send them a lifeline, so to speak. His words, not mine." the dragoness said as she approached the small group.
"Ah, Toothless. You didn't go with him?" Valka asked. Toothless shook her head. It still surprised Valka how animated the Night Fury could be with basic gestures.
"He had another task for me. Nothing one of the students couldn't handle. I know he just had me do it because he didn't want me anywhere near those people." she replied.
"Speak of the devil…" the dark haired girl said, looking towards the horizon. Everyone turned to see a huge dragon approach the landing area. It was a giant Night Fury with midnight blue markings along its head and spine. The dragon was at least three times the size of Toothless, and as it landed, it walked casually towards the group, it's glowing green eyes flashing to initiate a transformation.
The scales on the giant dragon peeled away like flakes of ash, as did the flesh and bone until all that remained was a young man with dark brown hair and intense green eyes. The transformation took all of five seconds and as the last of the draconic body blew away like ash in the wind, the man stopped before the two humans and the seven dragons, a content smile on his face. Unlike the others, this dragon-turned-human didn't have armoured plating. His clothing consisted of a black sleeveless skin-tight hooded tunic with blue trim around the shoulders, black baggy pants held up by an off-white sash with a black cloth covering his left leg. In addition, he also wore two elbow-length blue fur gloves and black leather knee-high boots.
"Talking about me, were you?" he asked, his voice was deep for someone of his build, but not so deep as to make one believe it didn't belong to him.
"Just complaining that your students prefer you over me." the young girl said.
The male chuckled at this. "Come now, Heather. I'm sure that's not the case." he replied. As he spoke, he walked over to Toothless and gently slid his hands from either side of her face, to her neck behind her frills, leaning in for a hug, which the night fury was more than happy to give.
"How did it go with the villagers?" Valka asked, getting the man's attention. He turned around to face her.
"I think I gave them a scare, despite the fact they couldn't see me. But other than that, I gave them their lifeline, now they'll have enough food to make it to the nearest island. Which from their location is either here or Boar Island. It has an abundance of boars, so they won't go hungry." he chuckled.
"What if they come here?" Heather asked.
"My house, my rules." the man said with a devilish grin on his face. "Now then, if you'll excuse me, I have something I wish to discuss with Toothless in private. Without another word, the two women left with the other dragons until only he and Toothless remained.
"What did you want to talk about, Hiccup?"