Gon was weaving herbs together into bundles of cloth. Savage watched on, glancing curiously at the baskets of herbs and old scraps of old sheepskin and wool, cloths of all kinds.
Gon turned to glare at the man angrily, "Will you stop hovering like a jeweled hummer and make yourself useful? Bring me more of the ash wood."
Savage still couldn't believe the change in the man's attitude, from a shivering little foreigner to a man with icy stares and demands under Alvin's command after just one look at the golden dragon. He wondered if that dragon may have more powers than they had first thought.
He handed the man a basket full of charred ash wood leaves and another basket of cloth scraps. Gon nodded, "Good, now leave me to my work. You smell awful."
Savage growled, fingering his axe, "I was told to stay here, Dress man."
Gon huffed, not liking that nickname one bit, he pointed to a spare stool and grunted, "Then sit down and help me wrap this mixture up. That might help with you putrid stench anyways."
Savage gave a growl that could make a grown man shiver, his battle axe taken from his hip so swiftly it seemed to jump into his hand of its own accord, "What did you say to me, DRESSMAN?"
Gon huffed turning back to his work, "Put that thing away Viking scum, Alvin wants my help and your orders are to help me."
Savage's grip tightened; reluctantly he thrust his weapon back into its place at his side and sat down heavily. He muttered under his breath to every god he knew of, Gon ignored him with a frown and continued to work. Finally holding up what looked like a woven scarf stuffed with herbs, he inspected it closely.
"Almost ready." He said softly, "In the meantime, what sort of plans have you put forth to destroy this Burp island or whatever it's called?"
"That is not your concern now is it?" Savgae muttered darkly, "And it's called Berk."
Gon took a deep breath through his nose, shaking his head, "Brimstone and lake fires, this smell is getting to already. Never thought I'd be happy with such a dull sense of smell."
Savage's ears pricked at this, he dismissed it instantly as a foreigner's ramblings or other. He instead thought back to the last attempt to bring down Berk, the Whispering death eggs were supposed to hatch and tear the village apart. Imagine his surprise when he heard they had all been driven out. Alvin however became furious and wanting an explanation, which no one had. Savage thanked his lucky stars when they had sound those two unique dragons not long after or Alvin would've taken out his anger on his own men. Any time he did that the Outcasts would be kept busy tending the injured.
Gon looked up shoving the unfinished collar into the warrior's hands, "There, it's done. Now all we need is to get it onto that young Guise dragon and he will belong to Alvin completely."
Savage held the thing in his hands, frowning, "How?"
Gon smiled, "Let's just say this makes things…easier for everyone."
****8***
Feather-storm was up in the air flying with Hiccup and Toothless, showing apt skill in keeping pace with them wherever they went.
Hiccup was a bit impressed that she was following them so willingly, but he kept getting a nagging feeling that something was troubling her, ever since Strider had shown up and attacked him, the silver dragoness had seemed…depressed.
In turn this seemed to be affecting Toothless's mood too. He kept looking back at her in midflight whining. Hiccup patted his friend's large neck, "I know bud, and I'm getting worried about her too."
He chanced a look back at the silver, only one day and already her eyes had gone dull as uncut gems, her feathers showed her lack of care as they were all ruffled. Hiccup sighed; she looked so different from the massive silver creature that had saved him from Strider's attack. He had known the dragoness would probably be unwilling to repeat that little trick of hers again; then again he was also sure that Strider had been lying about him waking up from that night at all if Feather-storm hadn't done something. Maybe that's what had her down at the moment; the werewolf and silver dragoness seemed to know each other, a bond not unlike his own with his Night Fury. But she had betrayed that trust to stop Strider from bringing him harm, how she must be feeling he could only imagine.
When Stoick first found out about Toothless, before their peace with the dragons, the chieftain had taken the black dragon away. Hiccup had begged for his dragon's life back then, which had caused both father and son to leave feeling betrayed.
The boy wondered if maybe he should tell this story to the silver, if anything it might help her to know he had an idea of how she must be feeling.
"Feather-storm?" he called back over the wind, adjusting his dragon's false tail so as to fly next to the silver dragoness. He pointed over to the sea cliffs, "We're going to land there so we can see how your wing's holding up ok?"
The silver glanced at him, she twitched her ears and adjusted course for where the boy had indicated.
They landed, Toothless more gracefully than Feather-storm for a change. The silver held one wing open longer than the other, settling down on the sun lit rocks with a sigh. Hiccup dismounted and pulled out a loaf of bread from his pack for her to chew on. She didn't touch it.
Hiccup gently pulled her wing open, always amazed at how different they felt from any feathered wings he had ever touched, and proceeded to inspect the shoulder joint. The scar there had begun to turn white like her scales; soon it wouldn't be so visible at all. He touched it gently, feeling her cringe under his fingers, "It still bothers you doesn't it?"
Feather-storm snorted.
"Just like how your friend being in a cell bothers you." At this the silver's ears pricked. Hiccup walked to her head, looking her in the eyes, "I have an idea of how you feel. I don't think she blames you for it. If anything she thinks you've been fed a bunch of tricks."
Feather-storm turned her head, refolding her wing and curling up like a giant cat. Toothless whined, rubbing his nose against her neck. Hiccup sighed, "I want to tell you how Toothless and I met. And afterwards if you want I can do the same for Koro Strider."
At the mention of the werewolf's name, Feather storm's sapphire eyes stared into hiccup's brown ones, her ears pricked as hiccup started telling her of a misfit with no hope of fitting in and a lucky shot with a bola shooter.
***8***
Strider chewed on the iron bar of her cell, she knew there was no luck in getting out that way, she was just bored. Very board, going crazy board, with a growing case of cabin fever to top it off. She had tried passing the time by going through some exercises taught to her by her combat teachers over the years, followed by a few more she had used for her hound form's use, then she tried meditating; first in every position possible on the floor and then hanging upside-down from the heavy beams by her feet. That got her through lunch time as her one question about these Vikings kept throwing her off.
She then tried using dirt from the floor to paint pictures on the wall, but they didn't show up very well; she tried striking up a conversation with a Little Terror that came to steal her food, but as soon as he got some he ran off in a hurry. She reluctantly tried talking to a Viking with a bucket on his head after the guard shift, but he was like a rock, sturdy, unmoving, and had no brain to speak of as far as she was concerned.
She tapped the bars with her teeth, watching the sky outside turn pink and red, marking the end of her second day as a prisoner.
"No wonder people get desperate to break out of places like this." She muttered.
A familiar sent hit her nose, followed by a burly voice to match the bulk that came in; rolling her eyes she curled up under her blanket in the far corner and did her best to look like she was asleep. Her ears rang as the chieftain banged on her cell door loudly.
"Alright now monster, this isn't going to be like last time. This time, you've got two of us to deal with and we're getting answers to our questions."
Strider gave her best fake yawn, noticing a blonde Viking with a braided mustache, peg leg and whose clothes looked a bit small on him holding up a broom in place of a missing hand.
He spoke with a heavy accent, "and I brought my dragon brush in case you need to clean up your act."
Stoick glared at him, his companion shrugged turning back to her, "What? He wouldn't let me bring any of my good interrogating tools. The pliers, the spike bludgeon, the kettle hook, that does more damage than you think that does."
Strider rolled her eyes, "What, no whips and chains?"
The blonde Viking held out his hands while looking at his chief, "See? Even she knows what you need for this kind of thing."
Stoick shook his head, "I told you Gobber, we're just going to talk to her. With two of us she'll have a harder time getting us off track like she did with me last night."
Strider jerked up to a sitting position, talking fast, "Fattysaywhat?"
Both Vikings answered at the same time, "What?"
The werewolf smiled; finally, something to pass the time.
***8***
Feather-storm was watching Hiccup's dragon class, fascinated on how they had turned such an important exercise into a sort of game.
Hiccup had told her about this Alvin character, she shivered when he had described him and realized he was the one who had caused her injury. She shuddered to think that Alvin had found a way to use dragons before, Drill mouth hatchlings no less. Accompanied by a dragon hatchling they had named the Screaming death. The silver hoped to never encounter that one if she could help it.
She found the idea that such a human could do such a thing foul, and the possibility that the same human could one day get a dragon to let him ride on their back…she bared her fangs every time she thought of the gold who had been captured on the island. As a Viking, she expected that he had killed the golden dragon, but if he was planning to find a way to use them…
She shook her head and went back to watching the other dragons playing flight tag, looking a lot like a simple game for hatchlings. Currently the Fire wing, Hookfang and his rider Snotlout, were playing the part of enemy dragon, so far he had only 'caught' the boulder eater and her rider, and just now had done the same for the Twin head and rider. Right now he was trying to catch up with Hiccup and Toothless…then Storm fly the Spike tail with Astrid…now he was swooping around trying to get in front of Toothless again.
She shook her head, out of all of them, that pair needed the most work on their midflight attacks, and decide to pick just one target at a time. The rider also needed to listen to his dragon a bit more, at least in the idea of how to get closer, all that throwing of his rider he did could be put to good use if they just aimed the boy at the other dragons. Besides there was no chance a Fire wing could ever catch up to a Night Flier. Let alone one like Toothless at this point, his rider was too well versed in bringing up their speed to match that of any she had seen before.
Her ears twitched as she heard the boy call out to his class, "Come on Snotlout, you're not even trying, if you were a real outcast we'd captured you already."
Feather-storm chuckled at the thought, so far as she had seen they hadn't been doing any 'capture the intruder' practice just yet. And in Hookfang's current position it would be all too easy to do.
Snotlout shouted back over the wind, "We know what we're doing Hiccup. Just let us fly."
He went after Astrid again; the Spike tail had some good speed to her. The rider commanded up, Hookfang went down, speeding off at an amazing swoop. Excellent maneuver, obviously the Flame Wing's idea, they we're in front of Storm fly and on the attack. But the blue and yellow dragon simply folded her wings and dived out of the way easily.
The silver shook her head again, opening her wings experimentally. No pain, but after the race back then could she be sure?
Hook fang was keeping on the girl, not separating to go after Hiccup for once. They got close several times, but for each the Spike tail slipped away. Until at some point the Spike Tail raised her spikes and flicked her tail after the last dive, Hookfang veered, but his rider ended up dislodged with a spike in his helmet. Of course the thing didn't pierce through in the least, but a fall from that height would be enough to scare anyone.
Snotlout screamed his dragon's name like a small child, the Flame wing dived after him catching the boy in his mouth and tossing him onto his back. Feather-storm called up to the red dragon.
The others heard as they all landed back into the arena.
Hiccup dismounted looking between his dragon and the silver, Astrid patted her dragon right behind the head spikes, "Hey girl, what's wrong?"
"Feather-storm called them." Fishlegs noted, coming right up to the feathery wings and stroking them once, "Maybe she's in distress. Are you hurting anywhere? You lonely?"
Meatlug hobbled closer, Feather-storm shoved the chubby boy towards her and turned to Hiccup and Toothless. The black dragon nuzzled against her, purring in question. She chirped back that she was fine.
Hiccup took a guess at what was bothering her, "Ok guys why don't we take a break. Fishlegs could you help me check on Feather-storm's wing?"
The dragoness glared at the rounded boy, holding out her wing anyway. Snotlout chuckled patting his own dragon's nose, "She called our dragon's down because her wing hurts? Come on, we all know she can fly with it now. She should be up there like the best of us. Like me and Hookfang, warriors in the sky."
Hookfang purred, holding his head up a bit more proudly. Everyone else just rolled their eyes. Hiccup pretended he hadn't heard, he continued to check the silver's shoulder and wing with Fishlegs, going over every joint and muscle he touched.
"Looks alright to me. If you want to go flying with us…"
Feather-storm shook her head, flexing her claws and crouching like a giant cat ready to pounce. Toothless whined, apparently not liking what she was suggesting.
"I think she wants to join in our flight training." Ruff said.
Her brother broke out into a grin, "Awesome, maybe we can see her blow something up."
Ruffs soon grinned at the idea, "Or try to catch us on our dragons."
Tuff glanced over to his sister, "Yeah. Wait, what do you mean try?"
Hiccup hesitated, with all the silver had been through with Strider showing up, and her wing having just healed over again he wondered if that was such a good idea. He voiced this out but the dragoness shook her head, opening her wings wide and ready to fly.
Astrid hoped back onto her dragon, "If she's up for it shy stop her. You ready to take her on Storm fly?"
The spike tail shook her spikes, opening her wings. Hookfang tossed his rider onto his back again and took off, to the loud protests of Snotlout. The twins were already in the air, Tuff shouting, "Come and get us Snow White."
Ruff frowned, "Somehow that doesn't sound like an insult."
"Why? Someone using it?"
Hiccup glanced at Toothless, the black dragon sighed and gestured to his saddle, let's go.
The boy sighed, turning to the dragoness, his voice lowered, "If you feel you wound reopening give us a call. You can change forms and we'll carry you to the ground. Got it?"
The silver's eyes widened at such a suggestion, Hiccup explained, "I've known about it since Strider came."
The dragoness seemed to consider this, a small flute like whine escaping her throat. Reluctantly she nodded, slowly.
Hiccup mounted up, clicking his artificial foot into the stirrup, "And don't worry, we can make sure the others don't see."