Chapter Fifty One
The village never really did get over the fact that Gobber was missing. For the first few days everything seemed normal. But then people began to notice. Valka had taken over his job as the dragon dentist, with me helping whatever wounds needed healing. Hiccup was distracting himself by helping out in the village where ever it was needed. All in all, life could be better, but we were still moving on.
That was until the day I noticed the parrot-like dragon again. It was perched on a tree branch, staring down at me with beady black eyes. My eyes narrowed almost at once as the dragon continued staring, until suddenly it squawked and flew down. It took me a few seconds to realize that it's wings had claws on each end. The dragon was dragging itself towards me.
"Hey little guy, are you lost?" I asked as I leaned down. I suddenly remembered what Valka had said about them. These dragons were potentially dangerous. They were scavengers through and through. But seeing the dragon now made me wonder if she knew everything about them.
The dragon suddenly squawked again and unfolded it's wings. I was ready to turn back when I noticed something on the ground in front of it. Glancing at the dragon in confusion, I leaned down to see what it was. And almost at once I regretted that.
My iPod. Still intact, and to my surprise, still working. My eyes narrowed in confusion as I picked it up. When I looked back I realized that the dragon was gone.
"This day just keeps getting weirder and weirder," I muttered crossly.
What bothered me the most was that the dragon had somehow found my iPod. I could have sworn that I threw it into the ocean. Surely that would've destroyed it. But of course logic was working against me, and somehow it managed to survive after all these years.
With a sigh of frustration, I made my way back to the village. With everything that's been happening, it was better not to stay out alone for too long. Besides, the last thing I needed was for someone to actually worry about me.
That was when everything went wrong.
The dragon from earlier had suddenly returned, squawking as loudly as it could. Without another thought I reached for my sword, ready for anyone who might try and attack. The dragon hopped onto one branch and stared down at me with beady black eyes.
And of course someone chose that moment to strike down on my shoulder. The same area where my father had left that scar. I held back a cry of pain as my legs gave out.
"Leave me alone!" I shouted as I rammed my elbow into whoever was attacking. I heard someone cry in response, but they moved too quickly for me to make sense of what was happening. This was one of those moments I wished Snowfire was with me.
"You're comin' with us, brat," one of the men (I wasn't sure if there was more than one), sneered before grabbing my shoulder once more.
Black spots started clouding my vision as he dug his fingers into my shoulder, and I could barely move as a result.
"This one's a fighter," another voice spoke up. My vision was still hazy as I felt someone drag me away. The dragon that had been watching was gone now. I had a feeling that it was working for these people. Or maybe it was the other way around.
"Where are you taking me?" I demanded as I struggled against my restraints. Ropes were tied around my wrists. Of course they would be smart enough to do that.
"Just a little further," the first speaker grunted. "You'll find out soon enough."
With that being said, I dug my feet into the ground just to make their trip harder. The men cursed under their breath and hoisted me up by the collar of my shirt. I couldn't help but wince at the pain that followed.
"Quit your strugglin'; do you really want the entire village to find you like this?" I glared in response, hating the fact that they were right.
I didn't want Hiccup or the others risking their lives. Something told me that there was more to this than meets the eye.
Snowfire, I suddenly wished that she was here. At least with her I could easily take these men on. I wasn't exactly the best swordsmen in the world. And these men were obviously used to being around dragons. But I doubted they ever met anyone like Snowfire.
As if my silent begging had been answered, a roar of fury swept through the forest. The men suddenly halted in their tracks, muttering in alarm. Slowly I could feel strength returning to my shoulders as the men loosened their grip.
'You will not take my rider!' Relief washed over me when I saw Snowfire charging after the two men. They let out cries of shock before turning to flee, but Snowfire was faster. With one quick leap she let loose a wall of fire on them both.
"Thank you," I whispered as she turned to face me this time. "I shouldn't have been out here on my own." Snowfire only rolled her eyes and rested her snout gently in my hands. Even if they were still bound together I could stand like this for hours.
Snowfire truly was my best friend. Without her I probably wouldn't have survived my first few days in this world.
'What were you doing out here?' she asked curiously.
"I-I needed time to think," I explained shakily. "Besides, these forests are usually safe. I just… wasn't expecting them to show up."
'They could have killed you, or worse,' she suddenly scolded me. Now it was my turn to roll my eyes.
"And what fate could be worse than death?" I asked, my voice dropping to a whisper. But I already knew the answer to that. And Snowfire seemed to know as well. Her eyes locked with mine, and for a moment I couldn't speak.
But that was the moment everything went from bad to worse. The forest had been deathly silent, until I realized too late that we weren't alone. All at once chaos ensued as a net was fired at us both. Snowfire easily dodged hers, but I was too stunned to move.
'We must leave this place, at once!' Snowfire roared as she managed to pry off the net.
"You don't have to tell me twice!" I gasped before hopping onto her saddle. Snowfire was quick to take off, leaving a trail of dust where we once were. The men continued firing nets as we flew further away from the forest. I wasn't leading them to the village. We had to get them away, or we would put everyone in danger. "We have to get them towards the beach," I shouted over the roar of the wind.
She hummed in agreement and flew towards the nearest beach. The faster we flew the more I realized how risky this was. It was already windy, and I could see a storm brewing in the distance.
'We are not alone,' Snowfire warned me. I followed where she was pointing at and realized that she was right. A large ship was anchored near the beach. It was twice the size of the ships on Berk. And I noticed with a sudden chill that the sails were black.
"No markings; it isn't one of ours," I muttered, mostly to myself. "Pull up, I don't want them to see us."
'A white dragon with her rider are not enough?' Snowfire's retort made me roll my eyes once again. She did have a point there. But if we flew high enough she could blend in with the clouds, like our first journey to Berk.
"Just do it!" I ordered. Snowfire only huffed in annoyance before doing as she was told.
As she did so I could barely see a thing down below. The air around us had suddenly gotten colder. Snowfire was doing her best to keep the temperature above freezing. But I could see that even that wasn't going to be enough.
'Little one, this is too dangerous.' I tried to shake off the uneasy feeling when she said that. Whoever was on that ship had already seen us. I could make out arrows being fired from down below. Of course their attacks were pointless. But I knew that Snowfire was right; we couldn't stay up here for too long. The storm was getting worse.
"Alright, let's see if it's safe," I murmured when the wind picked up. It was getting too cold. Goosebumps started forming on my arms, and it wasn't just from the cold.
Snowfire did as she was told once again and flew down. The moment she did was when they started firing again. I felt my heart nearly skip a beat when an arrow whizzed right past my hair. Snowfire let out a hiss of frustration as she tried dodging the arrows. One had already managed to pierce her wing, and I couldn't help but wince at the sight.
'I cannot keep this up,' she groaned as the arrows kept coming.
"Easy girl." My voice broke to a frantic whisper when I realized that she was badly hurt. "We'll get out of this, somehow."
The further Snowfire went, the worse I felt. I was already getting dizzy when she started spiraling in the air. I tried holding on to the saddle for dear life when another arrow fired all too close. With that final shot came something far more horrifying.
I was falling. The pain from that arrow was too much, and I was falling. Snowfire let out a frantic roar as she tried catching me. Her wings were already badly damaged from the arrows. By the time I was caught by the men on board the ship, Snowfire had already crashed into the ocean.
"Welcome aboard lass." The moment I felt my feet touch solid ground, I punched whoever was closest to me right in the nose, ignoring the pain that fired within my hand.
"Bastards! Asshole bastards!" I screamed as someone dragged me from behind.
"I would watch that tongue," one of them sneered as they stepped in front of me. "From what I've heard you're a bit more vulnerable than you let on." The men around him snickered as I felt my stomach twist with dread. "We have what we've been searching for! Set sail for Hazard Island!"
I closed my eyes when I realized what was happening. The world around me was falling apart. And it was all my fault. All I could do now was hope that Hiccup or the others wouldn't get themselves involved in this.
AN: Short chapter, I know. But I meant for it to be that way :P Things will finally start picking up now, and... I apologize for my lack of updates. I already warned you that they might be slower so... yeah. I can't wait to see how people react to this chapter XD. Anywho, onto review replies!
69759 - lol That does suck. I'm glad I don't have to worry about school at the moment ^^
dragonridr55 - Unfortunately, no...
Layla347 - Sorry for the long wait!
Sil - We'll be finding out what happened to him soon... very soon in fact ;)
Nightfire260 - Well I'm glad you're not moaning about it ^^ I was thinking of doing that... I just need to think of a creative way of including it at the end.
Roxygirl - XD Probably :P We kept ourselves busy by playing soccer on the sidewalks, playing with other people who wanted to join us. It was fun! And please, by all means do that :P
arandomperson - XD I'm glad someone picked up on that. Not too many people did for some reason ;)
