Grimmel was still searching the sea when the big Light Fury found him to the north of the Hidden World. Hiccup had not had a chance to name him, close as he stayed to her side, but he was Moon-guider's oldest childhood friend. He swooped up towards the Deathgrippers, upwind of them, and gave them a wide berth at first. He flapped his wings as quietly as he could to follow after them.
And then his eyes landed on the human, clinging to one of their backs. He was turning his head all around, scanning the ocean. Perhaps for his missing dragon, who had been swept to the Hidden World by the sea?
The male Light Fury flew closer, still invisible. But no, these dragons were not right. They smelled wrong, and so did the human—at least, if the human his friend had brought back with the Night Fury was any way to judge the quality of humans by. Their eyes were nearly empty; bone-chilling voids behind them. The Light Fury took care to flap soundlessly and keep his thoughts to himself, but still stayed near them. The human was tall and thin like the one Moon-guider had brought back, but dressed differently, less dragon-like. More cruelty in his eyes.
And they carried traps. Metal things and ones of leather that clanked on the dragons' backs as they pumped their wings. This Light Fury had never been trapped, but they smelled of other dragons' hides and fear…
If he was looking for his missing dragon, it was not for a good reason.
They were too close, the male decided. Too close to his home. He needed to lead them away. Swooping carefully under the Deathgripper that carried Grimmel and climbing above them, he made himself visible again and waited for the man to see him. Other Deathgrippers in the pack saw immediately and flapped up to surround him, rattling and crowing to alert their master.
Grimmel looked, and his eyes made contact with the Light Fury as it soared along beside them, regarding him tensely.
"Hello, my friend," he said quietly. There had not been any land around for miles, so why was this dragon out here? "You aren't who I was looking for. Now where did you come from?" His hands, concealed from the dragon, slotted a tranquilizer dart into his crossbow. He whistled in two bursts to it, and two of his Deathgrippers followed up behind the white dragon, their nostrils flaring to take in its scent. The Cloud Fury flapped away from them, glancing back uneasily.
He had Grimmel's attention, and now called out, shaking his head and angling his wings to let the winds take him away in the opposite direction of the Hidden World.
Something small pricked his chest.
His eyes widened and he twisted his neck down to see the tiny dart embedded in his scales. He opened his mouth to grab it and pull it out as a deadened tingling spread through the muscles of his wings.
Grimmel watched the Cloud Fury flail a final time, eyes rolling up, and go limp from the tranquilizer, suspended for a few moments more in the air as though the winds were struggling to keep him in place. But they were not strong enough, not without his wings, to fight the pull of gravity.
And then he fell.
Grimmel whistled his Deathgrippers to a halt as the white dragon plunged headlong down without slowing. Seconds passed as he grew smaller in Grimmel's vision, an insignificant white blot falling, accelerating into a vast ocean. Already unconscious, he hit the surface of the uncaring sea below him with immense force, a sound like a loud SNAP, and was swallowed into the depths.
"Hm." Grimmel huffed, and put two fingers in his mouth to whistle to the two dragons who had its scent. They roared and wheeled around to fly opposite of where the Cloud Fury had been headed. "Trying to lead me away, were you, my friend?" Grimmel observed over his shoulder to no one in particular. "I admire you for attempting, at least. Now." His eyes darkened. "We'll go pay a visit to what you wanted to protect."