Daystrid

The first thing I felt when I woke up was pain. Not the wee bit of pain you get from a headache, but the stabbing kind you get from being severely hurt. It had been a couple days since I had been shot down, and I was not doing the greatest. They hadn't killed me yet, but I was more concerned about their leader. From what I had heard, he wanted to see me.

"Little girl…" one of the trappers seemed to sing, as he walked up to my cell. "We're here, time for you to meet the boss." He snatched my arm and practically dragged me out of the cell. I tried my best to suppress a cry that threatened to escape me.

My back ached like Hel, I couldn't walk, and could barely feel my wings. Firewing hadn't left his tattoo, and I was hoping that these people didn't know a way to get him to come out. I didn't want him to get hurt too.

The trapper pulled open a large door to what I could only guess was their main hall. Inside was a large room, that much resembled our Great Hall back home. Across the hall, sat a young looking man upon a chair that resembled the chief's throne. I could only assume that this was the leader that I was being taken to see, although I couldn't imagine why these people seemed afraid of him, when they were all older than him and could probably take him out quite easily.

"Everyone out!" the man spoke, as he stood up. The trapper threw me at the man's feet and left with everyone else.

Once the hall was empty and the door had been shut, the man walked up to me. He was shorter than I had thought, shorter than me. His hair was shaggier than Hiccup's had been a couple years ago when I'd first met him, and near black. He stared at me with cold, grey eyes that sent a shiver down my spine. When he spoke, it was soft, I had to strain to hear what he was saying.

"You, your mother is Ikapo, isn't it?"

I stayed silent.

"I'll take that as you don't know." He looked off into nothing, "Boy, she really abandoned her kids, didn't she?

"Let's try another question. What's your name?"

Again, I stayed silent. He grabbed my left wrist and pressed his thumb down on the inside of it. I cried out, the sudden movement causing me extreme pain. The next thing I knew, Firewing was sitting on the floor next to me, although he was tiny. The man didn't let go of my wrist, instead growling, "I asked what your name was!"

"F-fl-flame Rider." I couldn't stay silent anymore.

"That's better." He let go of my wrist. "Hmmm… Flame Rider, would you happen to know another Halfling named Night Rider?"

I almost nodded, before remembering something Hiccup had said, "If you get caught by the trappers, don't give them any idea that we may know each other at all. Even if they ask you about me." I shook my head instead, which seemed to confuse the man.

"Do you know any other Halflings?"

I shook my head again.

The man stood up and turned around, he looked like he was thinking. Then, without warning, he spun around and slapped me across the face. It took everything I had to try not to cry, although I failed; it had hurt so much.

"Please don't hurt me…" I was crying now, not knowing if I could take anymore.

"You don't want me to hurt you? THEN TELL ME THE TRUTH!" the man screamed. I was confused; I had spoken Dragonese, and yet, this man had understood me. "Confused? Here's a little something about me: I'm one of the original Fyrests. I turned against the rest of my species and their children. That's how I know who your mother could be; I knew her, many years ago."

He then called for his guards who grabbed me and dragged me towards what looked like stables. I was told that I would be working in here, if I wanted to live. My absence had likely been noticed, and Hiccup would most likely know where I was. I had to stay alive, I had to…

Hiccup

"So let me get this straight," Astrid started, "you're Night Rider, the men that were chasing you are the trappers you told me about, my sister might very possibly be dead, and we're currently heading towards the trappers' base."

It was a couple hours after we had left the Northern Markets, and I had just finished answering her questions.

"Yeah, that sounds about right."

"If Days is most likely dead, then why...?"

"Alden said that she might still be alive, and if she hasn't talked but Durin thinks that she has information he could use, he's probably keeping her alive. That's what he does when he's got me."

"Wait! He's caught you?!"

"Yes, how do you think I know who he is? Also, he absolutely hates me.

"Okay, now, when we land, don't speak, or anything. Follow my lead." I tossed her a black cloth, "Tie this over your mouth and nose, it'll hide your identity."

She caught it and put it on, realizing that she would really need to listen to me; I knew these people, she did not.

We landed silently on the trappers' island, a few miles from their base, and under thick tree cover. Toothless went into his tattoo shortly after we landed. The trappers shouldn't have seen the flash, we were too far hidden, unless they were out and about, which would mean Astrid would get to see more of this side of me than I would like.

"Hiccup, I can't see a thing, except you."

"I-I know, just follow me as best you can. When we get closer to their base, you'll be able to see." She's not gonna be able to see me very well, either, once I change form. We started walking, taking only about 10 minutes to get to the trappers' base. I had put my hood and mask on before we landed, allowing myself to be hidden in the shadows, where I'd changed form, before joining Astrid watching the trapper's movements.

"They're probably keeping her in their stables, probably making her work…" I whispered, not wanting our position to be given away.

"What?! Why would they do that?" Astrid replied, confused.

"If Durin believes that she has information that he can use, he'll make her work in order to break her. That's what he does to me."

"Why?"

"Halflings have an extremely high pain tolerance, and are usually fairly selfless."

"I've noticed that about you."

"Wha-? Oh, yeah, it's fairly common, and if he doesn't have leverage, he'll make her work, under the threat that he'll kill her if she doesn't."

"I thought you said-"

"I know what I said, but most of us know that there are very few of us, and want to stay alive to keep our parents' line going, usually. If Days is still alive, she's only there because she's smart enough to know that I likely figured out where she went."

"Hey! Who are you?!" Crap, it's one of Durin's men! He must have heard us talking.

"Let me handle him," I muttered to Astrid, whose hand had gone for her axe. She looked confused, but put her hand back on the ground, to balance herself.

I slid into the shadows, moving behind the man, and grabbed him from behind. Having done this before, I knew where there was a pressure point that would knock him out for a few minutes, which is all I needed. I needed to confirm Daystrid's whereabouts before going in, and this trapper could give me what I needed.

I leaned the guy against a tree and waited for him to wake up. Astrid came up beside me, "You waiting for him to do something?"

"Yeah. Wake up."

"Why?"

"I would like to know exactly where Daystrid is before we go in there."

"Oh."

Just then the trapper woke up and attempted to get away. I shot a bolt of lightning in front of him, not to hit, just scare him. It worked, he was back in front of the tree in an instant.

"N-night Rider…" he stammered, shaking. I may have encountered him before, so he knows exactly what I'm capable of.

"I'm looking for someone. She's a Halfling, by the name of Flame Rider. Happen to know where she is?"

"I'm not saying a word."

My sword appeared in my hand, a line of purple fire before solidifying into my sword. It wasn't my normal one, but it would have to do. My black sword, the one I normally carried as Night Rider, was on my other dragon, who I'd lost about a year ago. I swung my hand as it started to appear, stopping directly next to the guy's neck. "Where is she?"

"I-I'm n-not t-telling you."

Threatening this guy doesn't seem like it's going to work, but let's try one more thing… I leaned down, putting my hand on the tree above his head. I moved the sword so it was even with his shoulders, still against his neck. I turned my expression dark, allowing my eyes to go draconic, and said as calmly and quietly as I could, "Where is she?"

The trapper paled, looking as though he was about to pass out. "Sh-she's in the s-stable. D-Durin is making her work." The minute he finished speaking, he passed out.

I stood up, "Alright then." Purple fire shot along the length of my sword, my sword vanishing with the fire. I turned towards Astrid, who looked more scared than I've ever seen her. "You okay?"

"Uh, yeah. I just-I've never seen you threaten anyone before; it's usually your dad that does that."

"I told you that you'd see a different side of me if you came with."

"I know. It's just, I don't know what I was expecting, but this certainly wasn't it."

"Yeah, I get it. But now you see why I've never told Dad that I'm Night Rider-"

"No, I don't actually. From what I've seen, Night Rider is exactly who he wanted you to be before the war ended."

"-aside from the dragons."

"Uh, yeah, except for that."

"Okay, back to the reason we're here. The trapper confirmed what I said before, so let's go." We started around the base, stopping around the back of the stables. It was a fairly large building with multiple aisles where dragons and Halflings would normally be caged. From what I could hear, there were only dragons here, which was a good thing, I guess.

I heard a small rustling in the bushes next to the stables. A small dragon poked his head out of the bushes… Hmmm… that looks like Firewing… The dragon seemed to be checking for people and, seeing none, crawled out from under the bush and flew into the stables.

"Hiccup…"

"Hmmm…?" I turned towards Astrid.

"That little dragon looked like Firewing, just-just smaller."

"That's because it probably was Firewing," I replied. "Also, can you refer to me as Night Rider or Night, please. I don't want the trappers to be able to trace me back home."

"Okay…" She looked confused, but the area had just cleared, giving us a small window to move. I grabbed her hand and ran across the path, and slipped inside the door.

Inside there were many dragons chained or injured. It hurt to see them like that and know that there was almost nothing I could do to help them. My attention was caught by the only other person in the building; a girl, standing about five cells down, leaning against the door, her back to us.

She wasn't inside of it, and had a broom leaning against the wall next to her. The small dragon we had seen earlier was perched on the bars of the cell she was leaning against. The girl was dressed in an aqua blue and was wearing a headband and mask of the same color. Her brown hair was completely down, ending around the middle of her back. She was talking to the dragon, but I couldn't quite make out what she was saying.

"Is that…?" Astrid whispered next to me, her eyes on the girl as well.

"I think so. Stay here," I replied, slipping into the shadows and walking up next to her. "Hey."

She turned so fast that I would have gotten a face full of her wild hair, had I not ducked. "Hicc- Night Rider!"

"You seem happy to see me."

"I've been here for two weeks, of course I'm happy to see you!"

"Your sister's here too."

"She's what?!"

"She followed me off Berk, and I couldn't get her to go home, so she came with."

"Oh."

"Is Durin here, or…?"

"Who?"

"You've been here for two weeks and you don't know any names?"

"I was never told any. How do you know names?"

"I picked them up from trappers. Anyway, Durin is the leader. About all I know is that he's one of the original Fyrests."

"Uh, yeah, as far as I know he's here. I met him as soon as I got here."

"Okay. Well, why don't we see if we can get out of here?" We walked back over to Astrid, who, had we not been pressed for getting out of there, would have thrown her arms around her sister and not let go.

"...that's Night Rider's handiwork, I know it is."

"How can you be so sure, sir?"

"He's the only Halfling we've met who has the abilities to do that, and he is the only one brave enough to come here of his own accord. The only question is: Why is he here? The girl said that she didn't know any other Halflings, and specifically not him. He vanished a couple years ago, too; I thought he was dead."

I had just been about to step out of the stables when I heard Durin talking to one of his men. They seemed to be getting closer, which put us in trouble. If they figured out why I was here…

"Night, that sounds like Durin."

"It is. Are you hurt at all?"

"Not a whole lot anymore."

"Can you fight, you think?"

"Yeah."

"What about fly?"

"If I had to, I could."

"'Kay, you might need to."

Firewing had perched himself on Days's shoulder, now vanishing to return entirely to his tattoo.

I turned to face the girls. "I have a plan to get us out of here, but we're gonna have to fight our way out." Astrid's hand immediately went for her axe. "Eh, I was gonna ask you to not fight, if you didn't have to, Ast."

"What?!"

"They're used to fighting Vikings, it's part of what they do; they could take you down in a heartbeat. Just let Days and I do the fighting."

"You're expecting me to let my little sister fight and not do anything myself?! Hicc-" I raised an eyebrow, "-Night, you've got to be kidding."

"Ast- I asked you to follow my lead, remember? Please, just trust me on this."

"Fine. What am I supposed to do then?"

"Get yourself from here to the woods, as quickly as you can. If you can, find Stormfly; I'm pretty sure she followed us at a distance." Astrid nodded; I looked at Days and continued, "Get ready to fight like you've never fought before."

"What do you mean?"

"Use your dragon side as much as you can, but try to combine it with the way you normally fight. It'll help."

"Okay."

Durin came around the corner, sword in hand. "Night Rider… I know you're here somewhere."

I climbed up to the rafters and watched as Durin kept walking and smiled to myself when he didn't find Days.

"I should have known she was lying!" Durin slammed his sword into one of the metal doors of cells. The horrid sound resonated through the building, causing me to go slightly deaf for a moment; a slight side effect of my enhanced hearing. Since most dragons have better hearing than your average human, I knew Days was faring about as well as I was.

I dropped down from my perch in the rafters, my staff appearing in my hand via purple fire similar to my sword. The flash caught Durin's attention and he spun around.

"Night Rider."

I gave a short wave and smirked, not moving from my spot.

"Why are you here? You have no business here, unless you've come to give yourself up."

I cocked my head at him. This only infuriated him and he called for his men. This is what I'd been hoping for; the more men that are here, the easier for Astrid to get away. I glanced over to where I'd left Days and Astrid, only to see Daystrid missing. I raised an eyebrow and Astrid pointed towards the rafters; she'd followed my lead.

Suddenly, a cry came from behind Durin, causing both of us to turn sharply. There, on top of one of Durin's men who was now laying on his face, crouched Days. Her wings, hands, feet, tail, and hair were on fire; in her hand, she held her sword, which she had lit on fire as well.

I turned towards Astrid, to tell her to go, only to find her having gone already. I returned my attention to the fight at hand, just in time to duck under an axe that had been thrown at my head.

I dodged and countered many attacks, staying on the defensive. I kept an eye on Daystrid, ready to rush and help her if she needed. But to my surprise, she seemed to be doing just fine, dodging flying arrows and axes and countering the attacks from Durin's men. Soon enough, she'd made her way across the room and blocked Durin's sword as he'd gone to hit another cell door to throw us both off. Using his shock to her advantage she wrenched the sword out of his hand and threw it across the room. Durin backed away from her, now defenseless, and nearly ran into me.

Daystrid and I now had the upper hand, but I had no intention of staying any longer. I turned to her and asked, "Whatcha think, get outta here?"

"Right behind ya."

I spun around and took off, Daystrid not far behind. We met up with Astrid above the trees and headed home.