Chapter 4

The thrill of his successful escape and liberation was short-lived. Hiccup soon came to the realisation that he had no idea which direction they were heading in or where they currently were. All he knew was that they had been flying for hours away from Johann's base. At some point, once the sun had become only partially visible on the horizon and the sky was painted a blinding shade of pink, he had started scouring their surroundings for land. They needed to find somewhere to rest for the night or else there would have been no point in escaping at all.

If only he knew where he was, he would know where to search to find land. If only he had a spyglass, scouring the open seas would become a lot easier. But he didn't have those things. He just had himself, tired, thirsty and hungry, and a quickly tiring dragon.

It didn't take a genius to figure out that Freedom was becoming exhausted. The rate at which they were losing altitude made Hiccup even more frantic to find something other than more endless expanses of ocean. Which was why he wasn't entirely sure if his mind was playing tricks on him when he thought he spotted something. Please don't let this just be wishful thinking…

But sure enough, to Hiccup's immense relief, the blob on the horizon started to appear larger. He just managed a sigh of alleviation before additional worries started to crowd his mind. What if the island was uninhabitable? What if there were some wild dragon species there that would drive them out as soon as they landed? What if they didn't even make it before Freedom ran out of energy?

The next hour of flying as they drew closer and closer to the island was tense. Hiccup constantly muttered words of encouragement to Freedom as the dragon strived to continue flying. Look on the bright side, a voice at the back of his head said, at least with this low altitude, a crash won't kill you.

Ah, yes, crashing. He tried to mentally prepare himself for that as the island's forest drew tantalisingly close. By this point, Freedom was panting and wheezing with every wing beat and Hiccup felt something tugging at his heartstrings at the sound.

"We're almost there, Freedom, almost there. Just a little longer," he said. And then a minute later, they had reached the forest. They were flying so low that the tops of the trees surrounded them. Hiccup looked down, trying to find a suitable place to land, but as if the gods were trying to save him the effort, Freedom's wings gave out and they plummeted. Nothing stopped Hiccup from falling off the dragon's back and it was fortunate but painful when he felt himself land on branch after branch until he finally flopped onto the grassy earth, bruised, winded and with blood trickling down his face. He had probably gained half a dozen cuts and gashes from that. At least you're alive and free, he supposed as he groaned, trying not to get any dirt in his mouth. A second later, Freedom collapsed next to him, exhausted from the flight but otherwise unharmed.

Hiccup knew he should get up. The temperature of their surroundings was dropping and he knew a campfire would be a more than sensible idea. He was probably dehydrated too, and the idea of freshly cooked fish was tantalizing. But he couldn't bring himself to get up. The grass was much softer than the wooden floorboards of his cell had ever felt and he was so tired. He'd make a fire in a minute, just as soon as he'd got a few minutes of eye-shut. Just a few minutes…

The fire never got made.

When Hiccup started to slowly become aware of his surroundings again, he spent a good while being confused as to why he was lying face down in the middle of a forest. It took him another minute to remember all the exhausting fighting and escaping that had transpired the previous day. He groaned at the aching still in his body. His skin was littered with cuts and bruises. Then he realised he could hear growling.

He looked up in slightly dazed surprise to see Freedom, awake and looking much better than yesterday, was snarling at something. He sat up as quickly as he could in his stiff and bruised state, thinking there was a threat, that they'd chosen the wrong island to spend the night on.

But then he followed the dragon's gaze and saw the "threat". On the sunlit grass a few feet away from them lay a smouldering pile of burnt logs, as if someone had visited them during the night to make a fire for them. And right next to it stood a Maces and Talons piece.

Hiccup stared. His thoughts immediately jumped to one man. But he was dead. He couldn't possibly be on this island with them. Which begged the question: who else was on the island and what did they want?

Carefully Hiccup eased himself up to his feet and tried to stretch. Everything hurt: his face, his stomach but especially his leg. He had been wearing the prosthetic non-stop for almost two months, he supposed. That crash had probably been the last blow his stump could take. He groaned, then picked up the game piece and approached Freedom.

"Hey, hey, it's okay, calm down. There's no danger," he said, holding the piece to the dragon's nose. Freedom sniffed it suspiciously then snorted, unconvinced. "Thank you for getting us out of there yesterday. How about you go find some freshwater?" If whoever was on this island was a Hunter or sent from Johann, he didn't want Freedom to come with him when he went to find him. And he'd be lying if he said he wasn't extremely thirsty.

Luckily, Freedom visibly calmed down and flew off, leaving Hiccup to look down bewilderedly at the game piece in his hand. His mind went back to Viggo, yet his brain was in denial that it could possibly be him. He had died, had sacrificed himself so that he and Toothless could escape Johann's base months ago. But who else could it be? He told himself it could be another Hunter who was close to Viggo or someone else entirely who was coincidentally familiar with the game, but he wasn't sure he believed himself. Why would anyone else bother making a fire for a scrawny teenager and a worn-out dragon?

He glanced at the floor around him, wondering if whoever paid them a visit last night left any tracks. He hadn't even got three paces before he froze. Those were dragon markings. They seemed vaguely familiar but his mind was still a bit sluggish and he just couldn't quite put his finger on which species would make them.

He followed the tracks nonetheless, keeping an eye on the terrain as he did so. The path he was walking on gradually became an increasingly steep slope. He tried to ignore the pain in his leg that increased with every uphill step until he followed the tracks all the way to a cliffside clearing, where they stopped. The view from the top of the cliff, however, looked so gorgeous that for a moment he forgot what he was doing and what he was looking for. It was a luscious glade on the edge of the forest and he could see for miles out to sea. The sun was already surprisingly high in the sky and if the glimmering of the sea had been beautifully bright yesterday evening, then this was exquisitely blinding.

Maybe it was his captivity that let him appreciate this more than ever before, or maybe it simply was a gorgeous view. Either way, he struggled to take his eyes off of it. But his peace wasn't long-lived.

"Hiccup," said a voice from behind him. He froze. That wasn't just anyone's voice. No… It couldn't be. This wasn't possible. He had to be imagining it. There was no way…

But when he turned around, Viggo was standing on the edge of the forest. Alive.

Hiccup stared for a good number of seconds longer, dumbfounded. His brain felt scrambled, and he wasn't sure if it was the shock of seeing the Grimborn in the flesh or the pain in his leg that had become excruciating. It had to be a good minute later before he realised he hadn't said a word yet.

"Viggo," he said eventually, though his voice had an uncertain edge to it. "You're alive?"

"As are you," Viggo replied, a slight look of amusement on his face. Hiccup looked him over for a moment, unsure if the smile on his face was pride or genuine happiness at seeing him. Then he snorted.

"Only just," he replied in a weirdly light tone, but then Viggo looked him over and frowned.

"You don't look well,"

"Neither do you," It was true, in a way. While the man opposite him might not be covered in bruises or wearing clothes that were in tatters, Hiccup hadn't missed the extra scars on his arm and face. But Viggo's frown didn't falter.

"Are you feeling alright?" he asked. No, Hiccup wasn't feeling alright. At some point during the conversation, what had started as a scrambled brain had turned into a wave of vertigo and dizziness and right now, he was worried that if he didn't move, he'd topple off the cliff. He took a step forward onto his prosthetic, then cried out in pain and collapsed to his knees. Viggo immediately rushed forward to help him, catching him deftly before he hit the ground.

"My leg," Hiccup groaned and the Grimborn helped him lie down. The older man tutted subconsciously as he looked Hiccup over more carefully.

"When was the last time you drank?" he asked, an edge of concern in his voice. Hiccup made a noise that sounded like a mixture between humming and a whimper of pain.

"Yesterday," he mumbled, remembering the Flyer whose last deed was giving him water. Viggo made another noise of disapproval before removing the prosthetic leg. Hiccup hissed.

"Hiccup, your stump is a mess!" Viggo observed gravely, but the Rider only laughed deliriously.

"That's what nearly two months of prison will do to you," he slurred, too dazed to see Viggo's eyebrows shoot up in shock.

"What?!"

But Hiccup was unconscious before he could answer.

Hiccup was running. He was sprinting down the corridor, heaving and panting as he went.

Somehow, against all odds, he had managed to get out of his cell. Somehow, despite the numerous wounds that torture had given him, he'd managed to pull himself together and run. Somehow, he had got himself so close to freedom that it was agonising it see it start to crumble. Because his captors now knew what he was doing.

He heard footsteps behind him and tried not to let that deter him. He had got his far. He could make it, he could escape. But he wasn't sure he believed himself anymore.

He needed a weapon. He needed to arm himself for a fight. He earnestly hoped he'd have the strength, but part of him was sceptical about that too. And then came a voice from behind him that made the ground beneath him feel like it was swept away from under him.

"It's funny," Krogan said, a layer of twisted humour in his voice. "You'd have thought that by now, he'd have given up any hope of escaping." Hiccup scowled, not letting himself turn around to face the enemy. Those were just taunts. Taunts to distract him. Nothing was stopping him from continuing to run.

But then another figure stepped out of the shadows in front of him and blocked his path, causing Hiccup to skid to a halt.

"Yes," Johann drawled, glancing around in enraging nonchalance. "It seems that our prisoner's stubbornness persists. Most disappointing." Hiccup turned so that he could glance sideways between the two men, not sure what to do now. He settled for glaring daggers at both of them while his mind raced to find a solution. His fists were clenched so tightly his knuckles turned white.

"Hands above your head, boy," Johann continued, now looking him dead in the eyes. Hiccup didn't imagine his scowl could get any deeper. This couldn't be how it ended. There had to be a way to get out of this. There was no way he was going back to that cell. But he could already hear Krogan's impatient tutting.

"If you don't come quietly, I will gladly watch my men fill you with arrows," he said with such sickly pleasantness that Hiccup didn't doubt for a minute that he wholeheartedly meant it. He growled under his breath but realised he had no choice but to oblige. So it was with tensed muscles and clenched fists that he raised his arms behind his head. Johann smirked.

"Good boy," he said, starting to approach him. Hiccup watched Krogan advancing from the corner of his eye but just as the man reached out to grab his shoulder, he ducked and tried to make a dash for it. He had only made it a few paces down the corridor, however, before a bola flung itself around him and he was thrown to the floor with the force. He heard Johann making a noise of disapproval, muttering under his breath. "When will he learn?"

And then there were men all around him, surrounding him and blocking every exit he had. He lay helpless as men grabbed his body as if he were just an object lying around. He felt someone grab his injured shoulder, someone touch his left leg and he lashed out, shouting in frustration and protest.

"Hiccup!" A voice shouted at him, sounding concerned. He frowned. That was Viggo's voice. What was Viggo doing here on Johann's ship? He hadn't joined the Hunters' ranks again, had he? How was that possible? How could he turn his back on dragons again? What about the Skrill and the Monstrous Nightmare that saved him?

He continued to struggle, wriggling until he pulled on a wound on his back and hissed in pain.

"Hiccup, calm down!" The voice came again. That was definitely Viggo. Calm down? Why should he calm down? He was being recaptured!

A hand shook his shoulder and another clamped over his leg, holding it down so he couldn't kick. No, Hiccup thought. He wasn't going to let Viggo pin him down like this. But then the voice came again, louder and frustrated this time.

"Wake up, Hiccup!"

His eyes shot open and he saw in surprise that Viggo was sitting by his side at the edge of a forest, his face bruised and bleeding. Where was he? Why did Viggo look like he'd been kicked in the face? Had he done that?

He sat up as quickly as he could with his grogginess and injuries and looked around him. To his right, he could see the cliff he had found Viggo at. What had happened? Why had he been lying down?

Then it all came back to him, the dizziness, the fainting and the reliving of his failed escape attempt. Oh, Thor, he thought as he realised what he had done. He had thought Viggo was in his nightmare with Johann, pinning him down. He looked down at his leg to see where the swelling and bleeding that been cleaned. Viggo had been trying to help him and he had hit him in his half-asleep state.

He looked back up at the startled and almost frightened-looking Viggo who had now let go of his leg and sat on the grass a few feet away, a hand on his bleeding cheek.

"Sorry," he said quietly, not knowing what else to say but feeling guilty. It took a moment for Viggo to come to himself again.

"Hiccup, what happened to you?" he said cautiously. Hiccup wanted to give a small lopsided smile but found he couldn't.

"Long story," he answered. Viggo paused, then nodded.

"I guess we both have some explaining to do," he supposed, getting to his feet. "Come, allow me to show you to my hut."

So with Viggo as his support, he managed to get to his feet and limp back into the forest.

A/N: So... we have a new addition on the scene. What do you guys think? Thank you for all the reviews so far, feel free to leave some more ;) And I hope to see you next chapter!

~httydfangirl123