Disclaimer: I own nothing
A.N.
Definitely uploading these chapters faster than a month's time. However, that time allowed me to thoroughly plan out the story; and as I said before, things are going to be different then what I originally said.
But it's all going to remain AWESOME!
Now enjoy the chapter, OR ELSE!
DreamWorks Dragon, Race to the Edge
Post-13 EPS
Unexpected
Chapter 7, A Threat Looms
Even though it was late into the afternoon, Hiccup could feel the sleep tugging at the corners of his eyes. However, with the situation of the Banshee, he was able to deter slumber. All night he stayed awake, originally because he couldn't sleep, but also because he was too busy chasing the Banshee. That proved to be a fool's errand.
Now the consequences were peeking through, but he not enough to affect him. He'd been through some sleepless nights before, it wasn't new to him. He could handle it.
"Golemn and his hunters are out looking for the Banshee and I heard you sent a scouting part yourself?" The Chief updated Hiccup as the two walked the village streets. Toothless walked behind them, looking around every so often at the busy Vikings they passed by. It reminded him of Berk, except there was less dragons and this place was by far more beautiful.
"I sent Astrid, Fishlegs, and Snotlout out to help with the search. If you're hunters aren't able to find it, they certainly will."
"And we threw the Loki worshipers in jail, just like you asked. Although, we didn't need much convincing, they nearly blew up our sheep farm." The Chief chuckled nervously at the thought.
"Yeaaah, sorry about that." Hiccup apologized. The two fell into silence until the old man asked a question.
"When did you realize you had a gift for dragons, Dragon God?"
Hiccup looked away in thought. "Oh, um… I guess about five years ago. That's when I met Toothless and we bonded." Hiccup stopped and turned around to smile at Toothless, his hand stretched out. Toothless cooed and placed his nose into the palm. The Chief watched with glee.
"I saw myself in him, and I can only assume he saw himself in me." The rider added, kneeling down and petting him while the Night Fury smiled a toothless grin and nudged his side lovingly.
"I see. It's been said you can bond with dragons like no other because of your spirit." The Chief explained kindly. Hiccup looked away from Toothless and up at the Chief.
"What?"
"You have the soul of a dragon. You stand for freedom and inner strength. That's what we strive for." Hiccup looked down before looking back up at the Chief, the subject not exactly comfortable for him.
"Living here is like being free from traditional Viking ways." The Chief explained, his gaze off as his mind wandered. "We don't fight the dragons, we befriend them. Sure it was tough at first, our people became extremely frustrated with how the dragons acted, but both sides warmed up to the other eventually. I can't imagine how hard it was for you to teach your tribe."
Hiccup blinked before chuckling, "It wasn't easy, no; especially for my father. But Toothless and I proved them wrong about the dragons and the tribe decided to live with them instead of butting heads."
"I only hope one day our island can be restored to its former glory. So that more dragons may come and rest, and be at peace." The old man wished while raising his hand to gesture to the whole of the island they stood on.
Hiccup stood up, a question on the tip of his tongue. "Have you given this island a name?"
"No, never thought it would be necessary considering no one really knows about the place—until now of course." He scanned Hiccup's face and smiled. "I assume you have a name for it?"
"Yes, a few actually, but I wanted to run them by you first. You are the Chief and this is your island."
"Very well. Hit me."
Stormfly, Hookfang, and Meatlug soared over the tree tops, their riders looking to and fro as they searched for any signs—mostly visual—of the Banshee. Luck was not on their side this afternoon and their patience was wearing thin. Well, Snotlout's anyway. You could see it on his face, his lips were slightly raised up and his eyes narrowed into slits. He wasn't even looking anymore, just staring straight ahead. His anger irritation distracted him from hearing what Astrid was saying.
"…They'll be able to conduct a thorough search on the ground while we scan the island from above."
Snotlout sighed, "Even if we do end up finding this Banshee, it's probably just gonna disappear again."
"Snotlout's right… again." Fishlegs said with the utmost astonishment at how "right" Snotlout had been lately. Said Viking was equally as surprised as he blinked in Fishlegs' direction.
"Ha! I'm on a roll!" Snotlout cheered with a fist pump.
"This dragon is smart and the only way we're going to find it is if it's on its terms." Fishlegs continued his thought.
"What are we going to do once we find it?" Astrid questioned.
"Ummmmmm…"
"I knew it." Snotlout retorted, "We're going to find the Banshee, it's going to run away, we're going to chase it, lose it, and then have to go back to Hiccup and say the Banshee got away because Fishlegs is incompetent!" He snapped, yelling over at the hefty Viking and his Gronckle.
"No, we just need a plan." Fishlegs replied calmly, ignoring most of what Snotlout said. It became second nature to him after all these years.
"Like what? Talk to it?!" Snotlout began to imitate the other's voice—although it was considerably high. "Oh, hi there Mr. Banshee. We were just wondering why you were eating all of the village meat. It's okay and everything, but we would just like you to stop because they're all going to starve." He said while waving his hands around in a girly fashion.
"Did you even try to imitate me?" Fishlegs asked in annoyance.
Snotlout replied with a smug grin. "No."
"Could you two just give it a break?! We have to find the Banshee and we need a plan." Astrid hollered at them to straighten them out, mostly Snotlout. "I suggest to try to appeal to it. Fishlegs!" Fishlegs snapped to attention at her call. "What do Banshee's like to eat?"
"Uh, I don't… know." He took a minute to think about it before remembering something. "Wait, when the Chief complained about the dragon problem, he said their meat supply was low. And Hiccup reported that he saw the dragon rummaging through the food storage. That's where they keep all their meat!"
"You're saying we have to give it raw meat? I thought dragons only ate fish?" Astrid quizzed with a raised eyebrow.
"Not necessarily all dragons. Remember how the Deathsong trapped and ate other dragons?" Fishlegs reminded her; though the thought itself wasn't one he'd like to remember.
"Why don't we just throw someone at it when we find it?" Snotlout suggested before raising his hand; "I nominate Fishlegs!"
"Hey!"
"What? You'd offer more than the rest of us."
"Oh how rude!"
"Enough, we'll talk to the Chief and get a yak or something." Astrid compromised, being close to snapping at Snotlout for his insufferable mouth. "Until then, you better be quiet Snotlout."
Said Viking huffed and crossed his arms, looking off to his left so that he didn't have to see "Miss Bossy" or "Chubby Fish Stakes". When he did so, his glare quickly faded away as something on the ocean's horizon made his hairs stand up.
He turned to Fishlegs and Astrid and began freaking out in mumbles, not opening his mouth to form words because of latter's order. His arms flayed all over the place as he randomly started pointing desperately to the left.
Astrid sighed and rolled her eyes, but didn't look Snotlout's way. Fishlegs just stared ahead, tempted very much so to steal a glance, but decided it was best to ignore him.
Snotlout ceased his frantic flogging and growled. He pulled down on Hookfang's horn making the Nightmare screech in attention and fly in the direction his rider directed. Right in front of Stormfly and Meatlug.
Both dragons screeched and stopped to hover, Snotlout now in front of Astrid and Fishlegs.
Astrid growled. "What are you crying about?!"
"LOOK!" Snotlout yelled as he pointed off to his right. At the… request… both Vikings followed his finger and searched the ocean's horizon. Sure enough, what they saw made them gasp.
"Oh no." Astrid breathed out.
"Is that…?" Fishlegs didn't finish the question, it was rhetorical anyway.
"Yep." Snotlout answered him.
"We have to go back and warn the village." Astrid ordered, "Come on, Stormfly!"
"Wait!" Fishlegs called after her, him and Meatlug following suit. "What about the Banshee?"
"It'll have to wait, we have to deal with this first!" Astrid replied, leading the three of them back to the village.
"Dragon God!"
"Over there!"
"Oh, he's here!"
"Are those your wings!?"
"Can we see them!?"
The villagers screamed once they saw Hiccup and the Chief walk into the center of the plaza. It shocked Hiccup how one minute the people were calm and busy doing work, and the next, they're crazier than a dragon at an eel part about his presence. Really, does it just strike them when the mood is right or was this a whole peer pressure—go with the flow kind of thing?
Hiccup almost jumped out of his skin when a group nearly crashed into him. He actually did stagger backwards, Toothless catching him with his head and pushing him back onto his feet—real and prosthetic.
The Chief stepped in front of him and held out his hands to calm the mass.
"Now, now! Don't get yourselves carried away. The Dragon God doesn't need to be spirited away on another cheerful adventure again."
"We wanna see the wings! We wanna see the wings!"
Chief laughed, "I think some of them might have had one too many mugs of ale, if you know what I mean." Hiccup chuckled nervously at the Chief's comment.
"But um, honestly, are those… your actual wings?" he asked. Couldn't help himself; he shared his people's inquisitiveness.
With a mental sigh, Hiccup decided it might be better to settle their exhilaration then to continue to let it build up and become unbearable.
"Well, it's not technically real wings, but I did construct them to allow me to fly." With the fact said, the crowd instantly hushed into a low gasp.
"May we see them?" The Chief asked impatiently. It was clear he might have been more eager than the whole tribe.
Hiccup took a deep breath and exhaled. Looking at the village, he couldn't help but think he may end up regretting this choice. He slid his hands into the straps and waited a good three seconds before flinging his hands up. The red fabric unfolded and followed his arms, spreading out and up to form a set of wings.
The crowd was deathly silent before all hell broke loose. In the blink of an eye, Hiccup was covered by the screeching Vikings. Falling down to the ground, he disappeared underneath the horde that seemingly ceased to end. Toothless roared worriedly as he searched the people; thinking the same thing as his rider.
This was a bad idea!
"Whoa, whoa, STOP! Get back, please!" Toothless heard Hiccup shout and the mob began to back away from where he last saw his rider. Hiccup had his hands out like he would to calm a wild dragon; taking easy steps forward as the villagers stepped back.
"Okay," Hiccup breathed in relief. "That's better." He took another easy breath. "You guys can't… rush me like that. I'm a person—just like you. I need my space, alright."
"Dragon God!" One of the villagers in the front cried out randomly. Apparently that's all anyone could say at this point. Hiccup face palmed.
"Yes, I'm…" He regretted saying this, "Your Dragon God. But that doesn't mean you can jump at me like a fish out of water." He said while approaching the Viking that spoke up. "I'm human, just like you." He reminded, placing his hand on the man's shoulder.
That was immediately a bad idea.
The man screeched and began to shake. Hiccup swiftly retracted his hand, eyes wide.
"What—what's wrong—what did I do?!"
The man lifted up a shaking finger and pointed at Hiccup's hand.
"Your… hand… I'M NOT WORTHY!" Faster than a Speed Stinger, the Viking face planted the ground.
"Whoa!" Hiccup responded as he took a step back from the display. Out of everything he's witnessed, everything he's been through, this was the most disturbing.
"Hiccup!" Astrid's call brought his attention up to the sky behind him. She and the other two were descending down on their dragons with a look of alarm.
"We have bad news." She began to inform him. She remained seated on Stormfly's saddle while Snotlout and Fishlegs hopped off theirs.
"Bad news? What bad news? Did you find the Banshee?"
Astrid shook her head no, "We found something else, out on the sea's horizon. An armada." Hiccup blinked at the news, looking down in thought. "Hiccup, they were Berserker ships."
"Dagur…" He concluded coldly with a scowl.
"Um, Dagur?" The Chief questioned, the name not familiar to him, nor Berserker."
Hiccup turned to face him, "He's the chief of the Berserker tribe. He's ruthless, insane, hates me to no end, and will do anything to get his hands on the Dragon Eye."
"Hiccup," Fishlegs called out with worry, "If he finds out about this tribe and the Temple, he'll kill all of these people."
"And we can't let that happen." Hiccup stated boldly.
"So what do we do?" Snotlout asked with his arms crossed and looking unfazed given the situation. His gaze ventured over to the man on the ground behind Hiccup and raised a questionable eyebrow.
"We'll distract him, lead him away. We have the Dragon Eye, he won't be able resist." Hiccup explained. Both Astrid and Fishlegs nodded. Snotlout understood, but was too busy poking the man on the ground with a stick. "I'll go and get the twins. We'll meet you at the western shore."
Astrid glanced around at the mention of the two dunderheads. "Where are the twins, anyway?"
"Locked up in jail." Hiccup replied nonchalantly. Astrid raised an eyebrow. "Don't ask." He turned to the Chief in sorrow.
"I'm sorry our departure couldn't be on better circumstances." He apologized.
"Must you leave, Dragon God?" The Chief inquired with gloom.
"If we stay, Dagur's armada will storm the island. He'll kill the dragons and your people. We have to go." Hiccup reasoned.
The Chief sighed, "Very well." He looked down before meeting Hiccup's eyes. "We look forward to hearing from you after you've won this struggle." Hiccup smiled and gave him a nod. He hopped onto Toothless' saddle and secured his prosthetic into place.
"We'll meet again, I'm sure." Hiccup said.
"Come on, Snotlout!" Astrid called over to him, forcing him to growl and drop the stick and leave the man alone. He still hadn't moved since they got there. The three of them took off to rendezvous at the western beach while Hiccup flew over to the prison. The young heir peered out below him to see the tribesmen waving goodbye. He returned the gesture.
"Take care, Dragon God." The Chief whispered with great grief.
The island slowly grew as the ships drew near. Savage left the sight of the island and turned to address to his chief.
"You were right about the island sir!" He exclaimed joyfully while rubbing his hands together.
"Of course I was right!" Dagur yelled at him before tossing him aside. "You'd do best to never doubt me, Savage."
"Uh, r—right sir."
Dagur took in a deep breath. "Hiccup's here, I just know it." He spoke with confidence and malicious intent.
"Do you suppose he has the Dragon Eye on him?" Savage questioned, albeit with a little more fear of a response.
Dagur dropped his wicked smile and shrugged his shoulders, "Doesn't matter. Once we have Hiccup, we'll force those friends of his to give it over to us." His grin returned.
"But, we tried that last time. It didn't work, sir."
"No, we captured that annoying little brat." Dagur corrected, "It doesn't work that way, not with Hiccup. I've realized that now. You can't use leverage against Hiccup, he'll always end up beating you either way." Dagur chuckled lowly. "You've gotten capture him to ensure success."
"Sir?"
"Think about it, Savage! The only reason I was failing before was because Hiccup was free to do as he wished. He was free to think, free to act! But not this time." Dagur explained before his voice got dangerously low.
"This time, I'll procure Hiccup and then I'll get the revenge I deserve."
