Heather felt, nearly, numb as she stood in the hut. In mere seconds, her life had been saved and another one's had, certainly, been doomed. She could not understand why it was that the Berserker chief had saved her. They had never met each other before, so it could not be a sense of nostalgia. Bluebolt roared, angrily, at her and returned her to the moment at hand. The Skrill used his wing to flick her onto his back and flew off. They zoomed around the island, searching for the young viking and the Outcasts. No one was spotted and they went to find Hiccup.
The majority of the Outcasts and their allies had been taken captive. Anyone who was not caught, retreated. With the fighting at an end, the dragon riders landed to check on the other Berkians. "Dad," Hiccup started, seeing Stoick, "is everyone okay?" The chief smiled, "Everyone's fine. We sure showed those Outcasts. Wonder who those other ones were, though. I'll have to interrogate them." Hiccup smirked, "Heh, so we'll find out in an hour." Bluebolt and Heather arrived to the scene and landed near them. "Hey, Bluebolt." Hiccup told the Skrill, going over to him. The dragon was panicking and pulled away from his outstretched hand. "What's wrong?" the boy inquired. Looking at the pair, he frowned, "Where's Dagur?" Stoick chimed in, "Yes. I'll have to thank him. We wouldn't have had such a good time today if he and that dragon hadn't killed their fair share of vikings."
The Berkian chief and heir looked to the girl for her answer, "H-he got captured." Their eyes enlarged and Hiccup leapt onto Toothless's back, looking for the Berserker. Like Heather, they did not find him. The two returned, determined, "We have to go back to Outcast Island. They must be headed there." Hiccup stated. The dragon riders-and Heather on Bluebolt-sped to the land mass. The heir was silent on the way. Too engulfed in his own thoughts to speak. Breaking the quietude, Snotlout spoke, "How did he get caught?" he asked, confused. Heather frowned, "Alvin got him in the side with his ax." Hiccup's head snapped around to face Heather, "What happened to him?" he questioned, panicked. Toothless eyed the girl and Heather's head lowered, "I charged at Alvin and he was about to slash me. I didn't notice that, but Dagur did. He knocked me out the way and went to block the attack. That's when it happened. Alvin altered his slice and got him in the side."
The riders looked at their leader and saw his distress. Sighing, Astrid began, "Hiccup, Alvin's a strong viking. A slash like that.." Hiccup faced forward, "Would make it so that he could be taken captive. Nothing more than that." he said, firmly. No one else spoke during the flight and they flew past jagged rocks and cliffs. Reaching the living area of the island, they landed. It looked empty like the last time they had gone. The vikings entered the caverns, going into the prison. "Split up." Hiccup ordered. The group scoured the land, including under rocks in regards to the twins. They met up outside the cave, "He's not here, Hiccup. No one is!" Fishlegs stated, hyperventilating. Heather wanted to comfort her friend, but felt too responsible.
The Berkian heir ran a hand through his hair, "Where could they have gone? They must be on some ship. Let's go." Snotlout's mouth gaped, "Go search the entire sea?" Hiccup gave him a death glare, "As far as we need, to find Dagur." he mounted the Night Fury and took to the sky. The others followed, closely behind. Night came and the riders slowed, "Hiccup." Astrid started, "We can't fly out here all night." Hiccup did not divert his eyes from the seas, "You all can head back, if you want." Fishlegs's face saddened, "It's not that we want to, but everyone will be worried if we stay out too much longer. Plus, our dragons will get exhausted and won't be able to help that well." he stated, defensively. "Well, I think that the Berserkers will worry about Dagur not showing up to his island." Hiccup retorted. "We can go there tomorrow and let them know why he didn't come back. They'll send out search parties that could do a lot more than we could." Astrid reasoned.
Hiccup scowled and let out a small grunt, "Fine." he said, gruffly. The vikings returned to Berk, being greeted by their parents. "Was wondering where you went, boy-o." Spitelout said, nonchalantly, but with a, relieved smile after his son looked away from him. The teenagers went to their huts for the night and Heather wentto check on her parents. They were asleep again, but awoke to see her. "You're okay!" they exclaimed, excitedly. She shushed them, "I'm fine, but you need to rest. We'll talk more about this in the morning." Heather promised. They agreed and succumbed to slumber once again.
Hiccup went up to his father, "No sign of him?" Stoick inquired, sadly. The boy shook his head and sighed, "I've never felt unhappy when looking at the other riders go to their families, but tonight, I did." The chief eyed him, curiously, "And why is that, Son?" "We, basically, returned so soon because we knew that our parents would be worried. The consolation was that the Berserkers could wait until morning to learn of their chief's status." Hiccup frowned, "Dagur doesn't have any family back on his island to worry about him. Even if Toothless, the other riders, or Gobber didn't help me when I needed it, I know that you would, Dad. We're the closest thing Dagur has to a family and I'm not even out there looking for him!" The chief gave him a pat on the shoulder, "Dagur wouldn't want you out there, not being able to concentrate, and then being caught too. He'd want you safe, even if that meant he'd be in danger." Hiccup was unconvinced, but tried to understand.
Heather exited her home and walked to Hiccup, who had been staring at the sea, "He saved them, Hiccup. My parents would be dead right now, if Dagur hadn't stepped in. We owe him our lives. I just don't get why he was willing to put himself in danger for me, though." Heather divulged. Hiccup looked at her, "Dagur's always been protective of people he cares about like that. He must consider you a friend." The girl gave a weak smile and told the Berkian good night. Hiccup stared back at the sea, "Stay strong, Dagur. I know, you can."
Waves crashed against the Outcast ship, hurling vikings into each other. A viking bumped into Alvin and the Outcast flung him away, "Get offa me, ya dragon bait." The Outcast leader made his way to the prison and unlocked Dagur's cell door. The Berserker had known that any thrashing about would only worsen his wound, so he steadied himself against the wall using his legs to combat the, violent sea. "Ooh, visiting hours have started." he said, mockingly, "Have to admit that I was hoping for someone else, though." Dagur laughed, crazily and Alvin entered the room, "I want answers, boy. And you're going to give them to me." Dagur looked pensive, "Highly doubt that." Alvin glared, "You and that dragon boy are friends. I saw that you trained that Skrill, so ya must know how to train dragons. I want an army of my own. Tell me how to do that."
Dagur smirked, "Uh, no. Thanks for the offer, but I don't want you going around with an armada of dragons behi-" A hard punch to his side knocked the air out of him. Some more blood came out of the wound and Dagur, mentally, swore, "Just got that to stop." he thought bitterly. Alvin eyed the boy up and down, "We've taken his helmet and armor, but he might have some other weapons on him." he realized. The Outcast searched Dagur, who squirmed, uncomfortably at the touch, "Don't have to be so thorough." he complained. Alvin obtained a multitude of blades by doing this, "How do you have this many?" he asked, dumbfounded. The boy shrugged, "Call it a gift." he grinned. The Outcast put the knives on the outside of the cell and walked back over to him.
Alvin unraveled something that was attached to his hip and Dagur squinted to see what it was in the dark. As it transformed from a tight ball into a snake-like object, he knew. "How do I train dragons?" Alvin questioned again. Dagur had a look of indignance and kept his mouth closed. A loud snap filled the air as a whip came down on his chest. He bit his tongue and stayed silent. Enraged, Alvin yelled, "Speak!" Another laceration formed on his, injured side and he inhaled, sharply.
More lashes hit his body and Alvin grunted in frustration, "Just won't give up, will ya?" The Outcast's eyes went to the binding on his arm, "What do we have here? I've only seen it around the joints when there's been a prior injury." Forcefully, he grabbed the arm and bent it the wrong way. Alvin began to remove the binding and poked at the limb. "I don't know who did it the first time, but it'll be ten times as fast and painful when I do it. Just tell me what I want and you'll be fine." Dagur grinned, "What do you want to know? How to look well-kept?" Before anything even occurred, Dagur tensed his body, knowing what was to come. As if it were nothing more than a twig, Alvin broke the viking's arm. Dagur cringed at the pain and could not help, but recall the feeling from the last time.
Dagur looked at Alvin and, for a moment, it appeared as though the Outcast and Ansson had become some, terrible, hybrid person. He kept a tremble from going through his body and forced a smile. The Outcast snarled at the prisoner and snatched off his headband, taking longer than what would be normal. "Odd thing to take your time on, Al." Dagur commented, through gritted teeth. Alvin gave a, sickening, smile and pushed him into the wall, "I have some things to do. Don't wait up." he told the boy and left the cell, locking it again. Dagur growled after the viking.
Hours went by and it was well into the night. Dagur was not asleep and was trying to think of a way to escape, "The first thing is getting out of this cell. I could trick an Outcast into giving me the key, but I'd still have to take down the others and I can't do that in this state." he grunted. It was one thing to be injured, that he could handle. But being injured and unable to do anything about it was a foreign concept for the boy and one of which he was not fond. Every breath felt like hevwas inhaling dragon fire. "I wonder if that slash punctured a lung." he wondered. It made sense that some of it might have been affected. Not all, but enough to make it difficult to breathe. He could power through the lashes and broken arm to fight, but if he fought with that injury the way it was, he would make himself bleed out.
The cell door creaked as Alvin entered. "Back so soon?" Dagur asked and eyed him, suspiciously, "Where are your weapons?" The Outcast carried no large weapon and put that sickening grin back on his, ugly mug. "I didn't come here to attack you. Just to let ya know who's boss around here. Like I told ya, I can do whatever I want." Alvin replied, walking, menacingly, towards the boy. "Still doesn't explain why you're here without your arsenal. Not that I, particularly, want you to have it, but it does render me curious as to why you don't." Dagur said. Alvin kept the expression on his face, although, it might have become more uncomforting, "Using weapons is only a minor thing to do. You're creative. Think of what else I could try." Dagur thought about what the Outcast could mean and prayed that he was mistaken, "You could try letting me go." he offered up instead.
Alvin just kept on grinning and stalked over to Dagur, forcing the viking to back into the wall that was already in close proximity, due to the chains. Alvin patted Dagur's head, feeling his hair, "Surprisingly, thick." he noted, "Back to our topic of conversation." The Outcast yanked Dagur's head over to his and whispered in the Berserker's ear. The viking jerked his head away from the Outcast. "N-no, no, just no." he stammered. Alvin scowled, "I told you that I'm the one who has first and final say around here. Seems like ya need a reminder." He pointed to the ground, "Bow and ask me to forgive ya." Dagur held in a scoff, "Forgive me?" Alvin's glare turned more ferocious and he grabbed the back of the Berserker's neck, forcing him on his knees, "And here I was, thinking that you might be cooperative. Silly me, I guess. We'll just have to do this the fun way." he stated.
Dagur struggled to free himself from the older viking's grip, "This doesn't seem like you, Al." he said, trying not to sound as desperate as he felt. "You don't know me, Dagur. But, ya will soon." Alvin told. This time, a tremor did go through Dagur's body-after hearing that-and he hated himself for it. He had to think, quickly, but what could he do, in a matter of seconds, to change Alvin's mind? A creak sounded and the two looked up to see Savage. "I told ya not to come in here, Savage." Alvin growled. The smaller Outcast looked embarrassed, "Sorry, Sir, but our new source of income is here. He says that they're busy vikings and that they won't be around this area next week. The sale will have to be tomorrow." The Outcast leader released Dagur and for the first time ever, the Berserker was glad to see Savage. "What?!" Alvin roared, "They didn't even give any notice."
Alvin glared at both vikings and paced a bit. With a large sigh, he spoke, "Fine." He walked back over to Dagur and bent down to face him, "Too bad that we won't be able to have our fun this upcoming week. It'd be a shame, though, to let ya go without getting something of yours." Alvin revealed a knife that he had taken from Dagur earlier. He yoked the Berserker's head back by his braid and cut it off. Dagur glared at Alvin as the Outcast waved the hair in front of his face, tauntingly. "Who knows, boy. I might be nicer than these new vikings you'll be with. I heard they kill their own soldiers for the heck of it!" he laughed, cruelly. The Outcasts locked up the cell and left the, slightly shaken, prisoner. He got up off of his knees and imagined strangling the Outcast. Groaning, he slumped against the wall, "Thanks for the help, Odin, but I'm doing to need a lot more of it soon. Being able to escape would be preferable, for instance." he suggested, hopefully. He wondered who these new vikings would be. Surely, they were not worse than Alvin, but they would do things their own way and that concerned him. Despite morning coming in a good few hours, it was going to be a, long, sleepless night.