Authors Note: This one might be a bit long. I own nothing.
10. The Trappers and the Trap
Stoick had woken early that first morning after Hiccup had returned to Berk, he was quite excited to have a family again even if he wasn't quite sure how to handle this new very different woman his daughter had grown into. He crept up the stairs to the loft bedroom that he had left alone for five years. However instead of finding his daughter asleep in her bed he found it empty, the blanket rumpled as if it had been tossed aside, the window was open and there was no other sign that the room had been slept in at all. Fear building in his chest Stoick rushed out of the house, unconsciously grabbing his axe on the way. He rushed through the town for any sign of Hiccup but Gobber was a much better tracker than him. He pounded on Gobbers door until the bleary eyed Viking answered rubbing his eyes with his one good hand. Once he was informed of the situation he began trying to find Hiccup. About ten minutes into their search something occurred to Gobber.
"Did ya check with the dragons?" Stoick frowned, he hadn't thought to check the arena, after all the Hiccup he had known wouldn't willingly set foot into the place before dragon training began. Gobber sighed.
"Come on then." They made their way to the arena as the rest of the town began to stir, the sun was only now coming up. The door to the arena was propped open enough for someone small and lithe to slip in. Stoick pulled the door open all the way as silently as he could, not wanting to disturb sleeping dragons. They were piled up in the center of the arena wrapped around each other so it was hard to tell exactly where one dragon ended and the other began. Toothless, by contrast, lay next to the large confusing pile of dragons curled up like a cat with one wing carefully folded against his side while the other wing was stretched out so it covered his left side, where his tail was tucked in. The instant Stoick and Gobber stepped into the arena however there was a flurry of movement as every dragon raised its head and Toothless leapt to his feet, a human figure rolling out from under his wing and pulling a sword seemingly out of thin air. There was an almost inaudible click and suddenly the sword was engulfed in flames and Stoick saw the half-awake face of his daughter. He breathed a sigh of relief as she rubbed her eye with her weaponless hand and looked around for the threat. When she spotted Stoick and Gobber she relaxed and the swords blade retracted back into its hilt. Gobber grinned at her.
"You're gonna have to show me how you did that Hiccup." Hiccup grinned.
"Took a lot of time and many mistakes. Doesn't work on axes, just ask Heather." Hiccup jerked her thumb at one of the open pen doors. There was a grumbling and Heather stuck her head around the door, her hair in disarray as she stuck her tongue out at Hiccup. Hiccup grinned at her friend and turned back to Stoick and Gobber.
"Sorry about them, they just aren't used to this many people yet." She motioned to the dragons then ran a hand through her hair looking a bit confused.
"Was there something wrong?" Stoick shook his head looking down at his shoes. Gobber sighed, they really just weren't very good at this. Aster showed up a few minutes later which was a blessing because it broke the awkward silence that had grown almost unbearable.
The next four days passed without any notable incident between dragon and Viking though the twins had set a shed on fire with the help of Barf and Belch, Stoick had yelled at the twins while Hiccup chastised the dragon, making it absolutely clear that if they did it again they would have her and Toothless to deal with. On the fifth day the terrible terror had arrived. It flew into town and circled the center of town clearly confused, crying out for something. The riders were all in the arena and saw the way Hiccup seemed to suddenly become distracted then without warning raced off out of the arena. Aster pelted after her, worry written on his face. Hiccup was talking to the terror in town square, oblivious of the stares she was attracting. Many of the townspeople of Berk had heard that she could speak to dragons but most of them hadn't seen it yet. Hiccup took a small slip of paper from a tube on the terrors collar. She read it quickly and bolted back to the arena before Aster could catch his breath to ask her what was going on. When he finally managed to get back to the arena she was already mounting Toothless, helmet under her arm.
"Hiccup what's going on!?" She turned to him, determination in her eyes.
"Daret sent word, the ice spitter attacked again last night, it's not that far a flight. A trapper base, one we didn't know about. He thinks it might be Erets." Aster looked at her utterly lost, Hiccup sighed exasperatedly. She wasn't mad at him but this was the first solid lead she had to Drago in quite some time, she didn't have time to tell them all of this but she had to. Eret served almost directly under Drago, not a general of any kind but a high up trapper who reported directly to the man himself. Stoick, who had been spending time with Skullcrusher in the arena when Hiccup had received the message, looked up concerned.
"What do you plan to do if you do manage to get Drago's location out of this Eret?" Hiccups face hardened.
"What I have to. I'd like to talk him down if I can but if I can't I'll do what I have to." Aster's stomach turned at the thought of Hiccup fighting a person, an unknown person who was a definite threat. It made him feel sick to think of her going about this alone. Stoick seemed to share that feeling because he'd gone white as a sheet.
"No. No I won't let you face Drago. He's too dangerous. I absolutely will not allow it." Hiccup's eyes narrowed dangerously.
"And how exactly do you plan to stop me?" Hiccup slipped on her helmet and took off on Toothless before Stoick could say anything. Stoick swore, loudly and colorfully but there was no way Skullcrusher was going to be able to catch up with a night fury when they were flying full out as they had been. Aster whistled and Stormfly flew over to him. He mounted up, ignoring Stoick who was saying something, probably demanding he stay where he was but Aster wasn't about to let Hiccup do this alone. It didn't take him long to catch up with her, nadders were quite fast, not as fast as a night fury but they could hold their own. Hiccup glanced over her shoulder and Aster heard her muffled yell.
"You're not gonna stop me Aster." Aster frowned and shouted back.
"Wouldn't dream of it. I'd like to help though. You said you'd need help in this fight, remember." Toothless dropped to a lower speed and soared over to Aster and Stormfly. She sighed.
"I know, and I do need help but I can't stand him thinking I can't do anything. I thought I proved him wrong you know?" Aster nodded slightly, he was a bit disappointed in Stoick himself. Hiccup cleared her throat and nodded.
"Let's go, knowing Daret he's probably started without us." Astern found out what Hiccup meant about an hour later when they began circling the battle that was raging. Daret was riding Skyclaw doing his best to avoid the nets and bolas being flung his way. Hiccup and Toothless zoomed around the area taking out all the hidden traps before soaring up to Daret and speaking Daret nodded but he was frowning as the three riders soared down to the deck of the ship. They landed in front of the trappers one of whom stepped forward. He was tall with black hair and what could only be a tattoo on his chin.
"Well, if it isn't the Dragon Valkyrie. I gotta say I expected someone more impressive than a little girl." Aster could hear the smile in Hiccup's voice when she spoke.
"And you must be Eret." The man nodded, smiling as he drew his sword.
"I am indeed Eret son of Eret, best dragon trapper around. And here I thought I'd be going back to Drago empty handed thanks to your other rider friend and that ice spitter." Hiccup shook her head.
"No need for the sword Eret. We surrender. That means you get three dragons and their riders, bet Drago will be happy with that." The man, Eret, raised an eyebrow, confused as Hiccup pulled open the grate in the middle of the ship that led to the brig and motioned Daret and Aster to go below. Confused Aster followed Daret down below. They could hear Hiccup still talking to Eret, something about the dragons not liking closed spaces but Aster had turned to Daret.
"What in Hel is she doing?" Daret shrugged.
"Being aggressively confusing. That's what Heather and I call it anyway. It's how she gets people to listen to her, do the opposite of what they expect." There was an explosion on deck and Aster flinched. Daret bit back a laugh.
"Idiots set off the zippleback gas in her sword." Hiccup who had been standing at the edge of the brig, head and shoulders above the edge ignoring the two boys behind her, stepped back out of the brig and Aster could just hear her speaking.
"Let me show you." Daret and Aster stuck their heads up through the entrance of the brig to see Hiccup standing with Toothless by her side, helmet sitting by her feet, her hand outstretched to Eret who looked confused but curious. He began to hesitantly reach out his hand when suddenly Hiccup was snatched off the deck of the ship with a slight scream. Aster tensed and dove for Stormfly as Toothless roared. Then they saw who was on the large red dragon that had grabbed hold of Hiccup. Snotlout was whooping in triumph, ignoring Hiccup who was shouting at him. The other teens were circling the ship on their own dragons and close behind Aster could see what looked like Gobber and Stoick riding their dragons. He was distracted however when he heard Hiccup growl at Hookfang who immediately let her go. She curled in on herself and Asters heart plummeted as Hiccup fell with no dragon to catch her this time. Then she snapped her arms out and in doing so pulled out pieces on her armor that created what looked like a small set of wings stretching from her knees to her wrists. She glided down through the air catching the sail of the ship. The other riders were landing on the ship now and Daret was attempting to hide behind Aster and Aster could understand why. Hiccup looked like she could breathe fire herself at any moment she was so angry.
"What in Hel do you think you're doing?!" She was viably fuming at Snotlout who looked confused.
"Uh rescuing you." Hiccup growled in frustration as Stoick and Gobber landed. Eret tried to take control of the situation but Stoick pushed him out of the way and Grump, Gobber's dragon, laid on top of him ensuring he wouldn't be going anywhere soon, which Ruffnut seemed very happy about. Hiccup held out her hand to Stormfly who dropped her hilt back in her hand.
"I don't need rescuing! I was doing perfectly fine." Stoick raised his voice as Hiccup bent and picked up her helmet.
"Enough! Hiccup, you aren't facing Drago and that's final." Hiccup's eyes narrowed dangerously and Daret and Heather, who had just landed on an ice flow near the ship, both flinched.
"I don't need you to take care of me. I can take care of myself, the last five years should have proved that to you." Hiccup jammed her helmet onto her head and mounted Toothless in the ringing silence that followed her statement. Aster reached out a hand to her but she was already taking off, seconds later she was just a black blur on the horizon. Stoick swore.
Hiccup and Toothless were flying just above the clouds when Hiccup simply couldn't hold in her frustration any more. She screamed throwing her hands into the air and yelling at nothing. She was upset at her father for not having faith in her, but she was also upset at herself for lashing out at him. Now she'd lost her way into Drago's camp. She lay back so she was flat along Toothless's back and sighed. He rumbled at her as they kept flying.
"It's ok buddy. I'm not gonna let anything happen to you." They flew on in silence for a few minutes then they both heard the flap of wings to their left. Hiccup turned her head, helmet still in place and growled.
"Come on dad! I…" She trailed off as a figure rose out of the clouds that was decidedly not her father. She was tall, dressed in brown and blue armor, with a helmet that resembled a dragon, horns and all. She was standing atop a large four winged dragon. Hiccup froze one hand going to Toothless's head to reassure him.
"It's ok bud, no sudden movements." Toothless rumbled in agreement then bellowed a warning as he heard wings approaching from behind. They dove to the side but neither of them had heard the gronkle waiting for them below. Hiccup felt the blow to her head through her helmet, her word spun for an instant as she began to fall, then everything went black.
Toothless bellowed in fury and fear as he felt Hiccup fall from his back. Her helmet slipped off and he could see her eyes were closed and there was a small trail of blood leaking out from under her hairline. He was falling with no way to stop it. He roared in distress as he watched Hiccup falling. Then the four winged dragon and its rider were diving past him. The Stormcutter caught Hiccup's limp form around the middle as Toothless plummeted into the icy water. Trying to balance on the icy flows he watched as his rider was carried off, completely helpless. Then several large Thunderdrums pulled him beneath the water's surface.