Chapter 4:
The two Dragon Hunter ships dock on the island several of the men, bundled and coats warm clothing leaping off onto the snow covered surface below them. There's a light snowfall but with little wind it isn't going to affect the Hunter's pursuing.
"Don't come back 'till you have that dragon and the boy." The leader calls towards his men leaping off the side of the boat himself. He turns to a bigger group, "The Energy Freeze is around here somewhere. Find it and drag it back, once we have the dragons and the rider, we'll go back to Viggo."
The Hunters nod before rushing off together, the two groups with different objectives.
000o000
Pain.
It's the only thing he registers, feels or can focus on.
His ribs sting like crazy every breath causing deep waves of agony to wash over his body. Hiccup forces himself to take another inhale, the exhale coming out shaky. His fingers went numb hours ago and beyond pain he's cold and panicking.
He doesn't know why he's here, remember what happened or what he should be doing. His thoughts are fuzzy but raw determination and stubbornness forces him to open his eyes; the world is blurry and black and Hiccup blinks several times a headache starting to pulse.
Toothless looks down at his rider and lets out a worried warble nuding his head softly. Hiccup groans and tries to roll over but gives a sharp gasp of pain jerking upwards arms wrapped around his ribs. Toothless's eyes widen and he stares at Hiccup with concern cooing softly.
Hiccup's eyes are wide and he hunches slightly his shoulders tense. "T-toothless." He stutters softly and rests his hand on the Night Fury's head his cold fingers hardly seeming to really touch Toothless's scales.
Toothless pushes against his hand and moves next to Hiccup again. When Toothless is a little less than a foot away, Hiccup collapses backwards eyes closed tightly his face twisted in an expression of pain. Toothless's eyes widen and he moves forward quickly, catching Hiccup's back with his head before the Haddock and the ground can make an unwanted reunion.
Hiccup's head rolls back as he slips into a half conscious state again and Toothless growls softly shifting himself to Hiccup is resting against his side and puts his head next to Hiccup's limp hand pushing against it softly. A snapping sound rings through the air and Toothless's ears perk up before he lifts his head staring at the entrance of the cave eyes narrowing softly.
Hiccup gives a small groan and Toothless's gaze flickers to him for a second before he spots several figures moving through the snow towards them. Dragon Hunters.
Toothless nudges Hiccup trying to get his attention as the Hunters move forward, not at all silently towards them. "Mpgh." Hiccup says before he opens his eyes and stares forward at the shapes squinting slightly. The not dead part of his brain recognizes it instantly and Hiccup staggers to his feet immediately hunching over with a gasp of pain.
"Bud, I think I broke a few ribs." Hiccup says and Toothless's eyes widen before he shoves under Hiccup's arm, jerking his head towards his back. Hiccup nods and struggles onto Toothless's back swinging his prosthetic into place and clicking it softly. "Let's get out of here." Hiccup says voice on the verge of a plead.
Toothless nods and rushes towards the entrance of the cave with a powerful leap he jumps into the air flapping his wings madly as he takes flight trying to get as upwards into the sky as he can. A blur whizzes past him and Toothless jerks to a stop, hovering in place as Hiccup flattens himself as far as he can into the saddle.
The net flies past the duo and Toothless snaps his gaze down spotting the Hunters throwing nets and bola's up at them. Toothless growls and fires several plasma blasts as he barrels rolls causing several of the Hunters to dive to the side. Toothless straightens himself and starts to glide across the sky away from the hunters but a bola wraps around his tail fins and there's a moment of steady flight before Toothless jerks downwards heading towards the thick snow pile.
Hiccup is tossed from his back and with a roar of panic Toothless grabs his rider with his talons and wraps his wings around himself and the young adult before they crash into the snow covered forest below.
000o000
"Ah hah! I've got it!" Tuffnut declares cheerily from where he's sitting next to his sister both of them leaning against the wall of their cell. Astrid and Heather are sitting side by side, Heather's eyes are swollen and red as she gives Astrid a half hug in a sisterly way; Astrid's head is dropped onto her knees as she silently cries. Fishlegs and Snotlout sit on either side of the twins, their eyes also slightly red from the tears.
"An amazing idea to get us out of here?" Ruffnut asks hopefully.
"No, that's not it-at all. This, this is what I have." Tuffnut says and lifts up a long splinter of wood with one hand from behind his back, "It's been poking at my back for hours! And let me tell you, nothing is better than a poke-free back." Tuffnut says and Ruffnut sighs but nods.
"Yeah, nothing better than that." She agrees.
There's a silence after that the only sound being Astrid's quiet sobs and Heather's quiet almost nonexistent reassuring murmurs to the Hofferson.
"Guys, what are we going to do...?" Fishlegs trails off.
"We need to get out of here, then we'll blast Viggo and the rest of his stupid gang of dragon idiots to Valhalla." Snotlout says firmly and gets to his feet rolling his shoulders as he stares at the cell door narrowing his eyes.
"I really don't think that's a good idea, Snotlout." Heather calls looking up from Astrid to the Jorgenson. Snotlout ignores her and races forward smashing his head against the cell door; there's a loud clang causing several cringes and Snotlout backs up spinning, one hand in the air as he rotates back and forth.
"Whoo, yeah that was a bad.." With a grunt, Snotlout collapses backwards hitting the ground with a thump. Tuffnut chuckles.
"Idiot."
Heather sighs and looks like she wants to check to make sure Snotlout didn't cause any permanent damage to himself but stays next to Astrid. "I'm good!" Snotlout calls and lifts his hand in a thumbs up, "I mean dizzy, but good." He assures.
"Do it again Snotlout, I'm sure it'll work this time." Tuffnut says and Ruffnut nods grinning. Snotlout gets to his feet.
"Are you sure?" He asks doubtfully.
"Positive, the door will see you coming and leap off it's hinges to get away." Tuffnut assures and he and his sister share mischievous look and as Snotlout turns away from them they high-five. Snotlout looks at the cell door before breaking into a run with a war cry towards it. His head smacks against it with an even sharper thump and Tuffnut cringes.
"Didn't…" Snotlout starts to say before collapsing backwards into a heap on the ground.
The twins chuckle.
Snotlout groans and holds his now pulsing head gritting his teeth before finally admitting the words that've been on all their minds for a few hours. "Face it, we're never getting out of here."
"B-but, we have to," Fishlegs objects and Heather, Snotlout and the twins gaze move towards him. "We have to rescue our dragons." He says with firm determination.
"Fishlegs," Heather says gently trying to offer a small smile but it's painfully tight. "I've worked on the boats before. They're designed to be inescapable."
"We've done it before, we can do it again. Hiccup wouldn't have just sat here doing nothing." Fishlegs argues.
A silent, almost painful quiet spreads across them at the mention of his name. They'd mourned for him but none had brung up his name or even mention him during that time.
Snotlout sighs and lays his head back against the ground and Heather bites her lip looking down at her lap.
Astrid's head, however, raises. "He's right." She says at length. Her first words in hours and all the riders look towards her as if waiting for her to continue. Astrid pulls away from Heather's half hug and stands brushing her hair from her face.
The guards that had been in front of their cell were currently on break, not like any of them were going anywhere anyway. It's just the six dragon riders and an empty hallway. Astrid's fists clench, "We're not giving Viggo what he wants. We're taking our dragons and getting out of here." Astrid says.
"...And after that?" Tuffnut prods hesitantly.
Astrid's fists clench. "Then we make him pay."
Heather stands. "Good, what do you suggest we do."
Astrid looks around them then down the cell block before turning back to her fellow dragon riders. Her gaze flickers upwards before a smirk spreads across her face, "Why don't we go through the front door?"
Tuffnut's eyebrows lower and he looks and Ruffnut, "Wait, they have a front door?"
Her expression mimics her brothers, "Can boats even have front doors?"
"Will you please be quiet?" Fishlegs hisses.
"No, they're right." Astrid says and leans towards them. "Here's the plan: we have to get the guards to come over here then we steal their weapons and go through the roof."
"That's not exactly a front door." Tuffnut says dryly. Ruffnut scowls at him. He lifts up his hands. "It's not!"
Astrid rolls her eyes before leaping towards Heather swinging her fist towards her face. Heather's eyes widen and with reflexes she'd worked on for years she leaps out of the way catching Astrid's hand. Astrid growls and swings her leg up swiping Heather's feet from under her. Heather hits the ground with a 'oof' and looks up at Astrid in confusion.
Astrid's body language and expression offer no answers.
A slightly irritated look flashes across the Razorwhip rider's face before her eyes widen in understanding. Leaping towards Astrid with a angered roar cry Heather prepares her muscles to tackle her. Astrid grabs Heather's left forearm and ducks pulling Heather over her head and behind her. Heather hisses through her teeth before looking back at Astrid.
"What are you doing!?" Fishlegs exclaims. "How is this helping!?" He demands and raises his hands in frustration. Heather and Astrid continue their attacks and it takes nearly a full minute before Fishlegs also catches onto what their doing at the same time Snotlout does.
Snotlout leaps towards Fishlegs with a angered cry and Fishlegs squeals leaping out of the way as Snotlout's fist smacks against the wall. The twins watch their battling comrades with confusion and a hint of amusement. "I knew this day was coming." Tuffnut whispers to Ruffnut.
She looks at him questionably. "We've all caught a mighty case of cabin fever and the only way we can heal ourselves is to battle to the death."
Ruffnut nods, "Ah, yes-wait what?" She asks doing a double-take.
Tuffnut grins.
Astrid looks at them, "You could help you know." She says through gritted teeth and lifts up her hand to catch Heather's fist shoving the girl away from her. The two siblings share a look.
"Nah, we'll leave battling to the death to you four." Ruffnut says and Tuffnut nods.
"Battling to the-oh Thor." Astrid groans rolling her eyes and leaps over Heather's attempt to swipe her legs from under her.
"We're trying to get the guards attention." Heather explains giving half look.
There's a beat.
"Oh!" Both cry at the same time and happily, nearly giddy leap towards each other at the same time Tuffnut tackling his sister to the ground.
"OW! Tuffnut don't pull my hair!"
"Equally ouchful! Don't pull mine!"
Insults quickly fly across the room for nearly another full minute before a few gaurds poke their heads into the hall to see what on Earth is going on. "Oi!" One cries in surprise as Tuffnut smacks against the cell door Ruffnut holding him up and scowling angrily. Two of the three watch in almost fascination as the warriors battle each other and the third scowls.
"Stop it!" He shouts.
The six riders ignore him and if anything, get more intense.
"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" Astrid screams leaping forward to tackle Heather. Heather dives out of the way and Astrid grabs the bars to the cell door hanginging off of it looking perfectly at ease.
"How is it my fault that he died!?" Heather cries in pique.
"STOP IT!" The dragon hunter roars and all the riders stop all equally seeming to be surprised at his roar. Fists freeze in place, attacks halt and all heads swing towards the man surprised, then angered.
"I've seen the way you lot act!? If someone throws one more punch you're all getting separate cells!" The man cries looking distressed. Astrid's face twists into a sneer.
"Good." She leaps off of the cell door and tackles Heather to the ground and both girls go down with a grunt. Heather growls in anger looking murderous. The three hunters move forward one quickly shoving the key into the lock before swinging the door open.
All three step into the cell and immediately all fighting stops. Astrid gets off of Heather and pulls the other girl to her feet. "Wait," One of the dragon hunter voices his eyebrows furrowing. "Why would-" Snotlout and Fishlegs moving as one tackle the man to the ground. Tuffnut rips the axe from the second man's grip as Ruffnut smacks her head against his. Astrid and Heather echo the twins and within a minute all of the hunters are unconscious.
Astrid releases a few heavy breaths and brushes imaginary specks of dirt off of her shirt. Spinning the axe in her grip she looks at the other riders, "All things considered, that went rather well. Let's go get our dragons."
000o000
A few minutes later the commanding Dragon Hunter ship's deck explodes with wood bits and shards flying in every possible direction. "SURPRISE!" Tuffnut calls cheerily.
"Yeah!" Ruffnut shouts as the dragons blast down on the boats exploding it with ease.
The riders quickly maneuver around the boats blasting apart what wood they can trying to find some sort of escape route. Sure, they found one to get out of the boat but none of them expected to get this far."Snotlout, Snotlout Oi! Oi! Oi!" Snotlout cheers as he, Hookfang, Barf, Belch and the twins successfully blast a ship apart sending the men on it for the swim they didn't plan.
Astrid lets out a laugh of victory and pats Stormfly's side, "What's the plan to get out of here, Hicc-" Her voice dies abruptly as she looks behind her and doesn't see the Berkian heir, everything rushing back into place akin to getting smashed over the head with a frying pan.
Astrid's senses slow, her heart aching the tears threatening once again to fall. A net flies through the air towards her and Astrid turns her head slowly everything seeming to be in slow motion. Stormfly, sees the net coming and with a squawk of panic she twists her body throwing Astrid from her back the ropes entangling her and only her.
"ASTRID!" Heather shouts in panic.
The world snaps back into motion and Astrid lets out a long scream as she falls back before hitting the deck of the commanding ship skidding several feet, vision blurring.
Heather guides Windshear towards the boat but stops as she sees the sail. Deciding that Astrid will be fine with their hasty allies, Heather turns Windshear towards the boats. "Tail flip." Heather commands silently; the Razorwhip quickly complies snapping her tail forward her lethal spines barely missing taking Viggo's head off.
Viggo stares up at the riders in what almost looks like anger before his expression calms. "FIRE!" He roars and points his sword up at the riders.
Heather growls through her teeth before pulling Windshear to the side, avoiding the net that would've taken them both captive. "Come on girl!" She encourages. She dives past the twins, "Get Astrid!" She commands.
The two give sharp nods in response, "I'm going after Stormfly." Heather adds after a moment. The two dragons separate. Heather squints looking through the smoke and haze as she tries to track down Stormfly on the decks. After a minute she does and pats Windshear's scales.
The Razorwhip fires at the net with deadly accuracy and the net snaps setting the enraged dragon free.
Astrid, after managing to track down an axe is managing fine. More than fine, she's determined and the world better watch out when Astrid Hofferson is determined. She's going to get what she's after. Astrid smacks a weapon from a hunter's grip and points her newly acquired sword at his throat, "Where's Viggo?" She demands.
"I won't talk." The dragon hunter says and Astrid scowls at him before punching him across the jaw and moving forward through the trained soldiers easily searching for her target. Her axe slams into another blade and she glances briefly at her attacker, eyes widening before becoming cold. "Viggo." She spits towards the man.
Viggo shoves against her blade, battle of pure strength. "Your pathetic escape amuses me, Astrid." Viggo returns and Astrid shoves back against Viggo's weapon, bringing her sword up to push against his as well.
"No one will find your body." Astrid promises so low a hiss she barely recognizes as her own voice, "I'll make you suffer as I have." she snarls.
"You aren't in a position to making such threats." Viggo notes calmly. Astrid's eyes narrow before she throws herself forward with a war cry and hacks down with her weapons murderously on Viggo's. He lifts his sword up to block the blow but when Astrid's axe meets his weapon the steel slices through the dragon proof metal as if it's paper.
Viggo watches the weapon break looking only slightly more concerned than he did before. Astrid slices her sword down and Viggo dodges it barely having time to recover before Astrid's axe cuts through the air again. With skill of someone who's practiced in weaponry their whole life, Astrid taunts Viggo backing him away from the major battle with strikes.
With a swift, graceful move, Astrid swings her axe down and the end catches on Viggo's foot. The Hofferson tugs her weapon up and Viggo slams onto the deck of the ship with a thump. His head bounces and Astrid slams her foot onto his chest, pointing the axe at his throat. "I hate you." She breathes before looking down at him, "I HATE YOU!"
Viggo's eyes widen slightly, not with frustration or anger but with fear. "I should kill you right now." Astrid says staring the man in the eyes, "But the man you murdered would rather see you rot in jail."
Viggo shakes his head slightly, "Astrid, Hiccup isn't dead." he says and Astrid's grip falters her eyes widening. She jerks back in shock.
"What?"
"Deception, Astrid." Viggo answers and grabs her foot jerking it left. Astrid tumbles to the side skidding across the deck of the ship. She looks up towards Viggo as he points the sword down at her. Roles reversed.
"Any last words?" Viggo asks looking down at her smirking slightly.
Astrid's face flashes with fury. "You are a pile of heaping dragon dung-" She starts before several spines land behind Viggo's feet. Astrid looks up her eyes widening with happiness. "Stormfly!" She shouts and rolls out of the way as Stormfly grabs Viggo's shoulders pulling him up off the ground.
Astrid races forward and jumps onto Stormfly's back grabbing her saddle and pulling herself onto it. With Viggo clutched firmly in Stormfly's claws, Astrid twists around smiling with relief as she stares at the riders breaking free of the ships.
Stormfly pulls away from the boats and the five dragons start to escape the rain of arrows, nets and bolas. Astrid gives a relieved laugh looking back at hte other riders, "Come on guys, lets go home."
And with that said, Astrid's heart leaps with something she hadn't felt in nearly two days: Hope.
000o000
Toothless opens his eyes blinking several times at the blurry shapes in front of him. It takes the Night Fury less than a few seconds to place what the shapes are.
Dragon hunters.
Growling lowly at the men and getting to his feet, covering HIccup with himself, Toothless hisses very lowly at the men as they move forward towards him eyes narrowing to thin slits as he prepares to fire something stings his neck and the world once again goes fuzzy, the last thing Toothless hears is Hiccup letting out a blood curling scream.