(A/N: Hey! Are you guys ready for part two of "Night of the Hunters"? I'm sure you are… because I am!
Now, let me just say this (without any spoilers), even though the capture of the riders plays a big part of the episode, I won't really focus on it too much. Yes, it would be very interesting to see how Helene reacts to seeing her cousins with the hunters, but I want to focus a little bit more on how Hiccup and Ladok interact in such a situation since it never happened before to this extent (at least not between the two of them). Sorry if that disappoints you, but I'm the writer, I do what I want.
With that out of the way, please enjoy reading this chapter! It makes me happy to know that people like it.)
I-O-I*~*Y*~*I-O-I
Hiccup, Ladok, and Snotlout spent hours trying to find an island to hide and rest for a while. None of them have recovered even the slightest from what they saw happen to their friends.
They decided not to go back to Dragon's Edge, in case the Dragon Hunters followed them. They needed to keep the location of the base a secret for as long as they could, however short that may end up being.
When they found a suitable island, the first thing the dragons did was sleep, they were all exhausted after the long day they had. While they were tired as well, they couldn't sleep yet. Instead, they started a fire, gathered fish, and set up a camp with the few supplies they had.
Night came quickly and Snotlout was the first of the three to fall asleep with the dragons. He was deeply concerned about Hookfang ever since the incident with the hunters and slept next to him, despite Hiccup and Ladok trying to assure him that he would be alright.
Before deciding to go to sleep himself, Hiccup tended to the fire, shifting the wood with a long stick. He added some kindling in the form of a couple of pieces of driftwood to keep it ablaze for a little while longer. He wasn't sure how effective it was since it was dried out from the saltwater and being out in the sun for a long time, but it was all they had left, the island didn't have many trees.
He yawned and sat down in the sand, next to Toothless. He was about to lay down, but then he suddenly noticed that his brother wasn't with them. He looked around and saw him sitting by the ocean.
Although he was tired, he wanted to know if he was alright or not. He knew he was going through something after he saw the man who captured their friends and their dragons. He got up from where he sat in the sand and went over to him.
He was awake, wide awake in fact, if he was tired at all, he wasn't showing it. His knees were pulled to his chest, his head resting on them. His face was harder to read than a human's, but it wasn't difficult for him to see that he was melancholy; he was his brother after all.
"Hey, are you feeling alright?" he asked quietly and softly so that he would not awaken Snotlout or the dragons.
"No, I'm not," he answered in a low and quiet voice, almost too much for him to hear.
"Can I sit?" he asked him again, even though he knew he likely would have nevertheless.
"Sure," he replied, not looking at him.
He sat down next to him in the sand, resting his arms on his knees, similarly to the way his brother was sitting. Because of the darkness, it was difficult to see his face, but from what he could see from his nearly luminous eyes, he knew that he had a lot on his mind.
"I'm scared, Hiccup," he murmured. "Our friends are now at the mercy of a madman."
He rubbed his shoulder, "I know, I know. I'm scared too. I'm afraid… that it might already be too late. What if this guy decides that he doesn't want any prisoners?"
Ladok moved closer to him and rested his head on his shoulder to comfort him, mindful of his horns. He knew he wasn't Astrid, but he needed to help him get those thoughts off his mind before he started to believe it.
"Don't start now," he groaned. "No more Paranoid-Hiccup Haddock."
'Paranoid-Hiccup Haddock?' he mentally repeated. 'That's a new one.'
After a few minutes of complete silence, Ladok asked, "What do you think our friends must be going through right now? Do you think they're sleeping? Or not able to because they're afraid?"
It was a question Hiccup didn't bother to answer, because he knew that it wasn't one he wanted a response to. It was a question of hopefulness, he was asking it to remain even the slightest optimistic about the other riders, almost like a prayer to Thor for their safety.
He yawned, "Well, I think I'm gonna hit the hay."
Ladok stared at the talon-like claws on his feet as he hugged his knees tighter. There was a secret that he had wanted to tell him for a while, almost since the first day they met in fact, and there was no easy way to say it.
He was about to stand up when his brother spoke, "Hiccup, I have something I need to tell you."
He sat back down and asked him in a somewhat flippant manner, "Something you need to get off your chest?"
He said it in a jokingly tone and it was anything but something to laugh about. He hoped he wouldn't be too upset with him after he heard what he had to say.
His heart was pounding in his throat, "Yes. I- I recognize the man who has the other riders."
He was stunned by this revelation, he never expected him to say that, "You do? Who is he?"
He felt his heart beat even faster, as though it was trying to escape from his chest. He took in a shaky breath and sighed, "The same one who tried to kill me."
He jumped to his feet in shock, "What?! He- he- that man- that bastard tried to kill you?!" He nodded silently. "And now he has our friends?!"
He tried to calm him down, "Yes, but-"
"When?" he interjected, tears welling in the corners of his eyes as he caught his breath. "When did it happen?"
"The day you found me," he answered calmly and solemnly.
Tears were now dripping out of his eyes, "What?"
He couldn't believe that the man who captured their friends was the same one that almost killed his brother. It was harder for him to acknowledge a rather upsetting side of him, that he didn't trust him enough to tell him the whole story.
Ladok stood up and comforted his older brother, "It's okay, Hiccup, I'm fine now, aren't I? My voice came back and if it wasn't for that day, we never would've met."
He wiped the teardrops from his eyes and smiled, "You know, Helene was right about one thing, you really do know how to make someone smile."
He returned his smile, "I'm just that kind of person."
Then, Hiccup became serious, "Now, tell me everything that happened that day. Everything you know about this guy, okay?"
He nodded, "I think I can do that. It's going to be a long night, so be sure to pay attention."
He chuckled, "Don't you worry, I'm wide awake and ready to listen."
He smiled and began to tell him everything he knew, "Okay, his name is Ryker…"
Morning came and Snotlout woke up from his peaceful night of sleep with a yawn. He stretched his arms and noticed Hiccup and Ladok cleaning up the campsite.
"Don't tell me you losers stayed up the whole night?" he deadpanned.
"Maybe," they replied in unison.
Rolled his eyes and scoffed, "Of course." He took out a salmon, but before he could eat it, Hookfang stole it from him, "Hey!"
Hiccup chuckled, "Looks like somebody's feeling better."
Toothless woke up with a heavy yawn and went over to his rider and his brother. Ladok scratched him under his chin, "Morning, Toothless."
Hiccup spread a map out over a flat rock, "Morning, bud."
"What are you doing?" Snotlout asked.
"Trying to figure out where the Dragon Hunters are headed," he answered.
"That's a bad idea," he stated. "Even if we find them, they have those 'one shot and you drop' poison arrows. What do we do then?"
"Well…" he trailed off, "I don't have one."
He looked at Ladok, who began packing Toothless' bags, "Don't look at me."
"I gotta be honest, that's not the answer I was looking for. Hookfang!" He huffed at his rider. "Okay, we always knew this could happen. The day has come, Hiccup's gone dry. It's up to Snotfang to come up with a plan. Just squeeze some brilliance out of this thick, beautiful skull."
While Snotlout was 'thinking', an idea came to Hiccup's mind, "I've got it!"
He groaned, "I would've come up with something. I was so close."
Ladok laughed, "I'm sure."
"Come on, guys, we've got some hard riding to do," Hiccup told them.
"Ripwave," Ladok called out to her.
He hadn't seen much of her since they arrived at their campsite. Most of the time, she was either sleeping, in the water, or isolated herself. She missed her rider a lot, she likely blamed herself for her capture.
She walked up to him slowly, looking at the ground the whole time. She made a sad, rumbling sound when she stood in front of him.
He knelt down and held her chin up in his hand, "I know, I miss her a lot too. We'll get her back, I promise." She didn't seem to believe it, she was still very melancholy. He held her head up higher so that she was looking at him, "Listen to me, if I know Hiccup at all, we're going after the hunters today. It's just a matter of time. And if we want even a small chance of freeing our friends, I need you to be sharp."
She moved away from him and faced the ocean, releasing a strong and powerful roar that Thor would hear in Valhalla. She turned back to him with a determined look on her face.
He grinned, "Now that's the Ripwave I know."
He heard his brother shout to him, he and Snotlout were already in the air, "Ladok! Come on, let's go! We've got a long flight!"
He yelled up at him, "Coming, Hiccup!'
He mounted Ripwave and gave her a pat on her head, he smiled at her while she gave him her own version of one. She warbled as they flew up to join them for their mission.
Trapped in a cage, separated from their dragons, the other riders had spent the brunt of their time doing nothing but think. They thought about the situation they were in, their dragons, the remaining riders, each other, and the truly surprising discovery of Dagur and Heather on the ship, working with the hunters.
Out of all of them, Astrid and Helene were the most shocked to see them there. Both of them felt betrayed - for lack of a better term - for their own reasons.
Astrid was taken away to be interrogated by Dagur, Heather, and the bald man, whom they had learned was named Ryker. They expected their questioning of her to take a while, perhaps an hour at most, but then one turned into two and three and many more.
Finally, at the break of dawn, she was finally brought back to them. She was unharmed, although she was quite exhausted and her eyes were bloodshot from the constant questions and little rest.
"Astrid, are you okay?" Fishlegs asked, allowing her to lean against him as she fought her exhaustion.
"Just tired," she smiled sleepily. "They questioned me all night, wouldn't let me sleep."
She looked at all of her friends, noticing the dark circles around their eyes, they were as tired as she was. They stayed awake the entire night while she was being interrogated, waiting for her safe return.
"They?" Fishlegs asked her again.
"Dagur and Heather mostly," she answered, "that Ryker guy doesn't say much. He just stares."
"Yeah, but you hung tough, you didn't crack, you never talked. Way to go, Astrid," Ruffnut praised with a smile.
"Actually, I did talk," she mentioned.
"Oh." She crossed her arms in disappointment, "Way to go, Astrid."
"I told Ryker what he wanted to know, the location of the Dragon Eye," she informed them.
"They're after the Dragon Eye?" Fishlegs inquired.
She nodded, "It's very important to the Dragon Hunters. They've been looking for it for a long time."
"And where did you tell them it was, loose lips?" Ruffnut retorted sarcastically.
She looked over her shoulder to see if any of the hunters were listening. "Back at Dragon's Edge, where it's being guarded by all the other riders we left behind."
"What?" Tuffnut queried, both confused and oblivious. "No one's-"
She covered his mouth to stop him from revealing her deception, "Supposed to know about it, I know."
Fishlegs caught onto her act and played along, "Yeah, Dragon's Edge is like a fortress. Lots of Dragon Riders."
"Under the command of 'Captain Gustav'," she continued.
'That little twerp will never be captain of anything,' Ruffnut thought.
"Wait, 'Captain Gustav'?" Tuffnut repeated. "He outranks me?"
"The only thing I could think of to keep them from sailing in and taking over Dragon's Edge," she finished.
"Ha!" Ruffnut laughed. "And they bought it?"
"For now," she responded. "But eventually, Ryker will send someone down there to check it out."
"You bought us time," Fishlegs tried to remain optimistic.
She nodded, "Exactly. We need to get out of here before they find out I was bluffing. Any ideas?"
"Way ahead of you!" Tuffnut piped. "I have the perfect plan: we tunnel out."
"Through the bottom of the boat?" she queried.
"Into the middle of the sea?" Fishlegs added.
"Exactly," he replied. "They will never see it coming. Even I won't! Especially because I don't know how to swim. Okay, mental note, learn to swim by tomorrow or mid next week."
While he 'dug' out of the ship with a cup he found, Astrid noticed that Helene had been uncharacteristically quiet the entire time. She was shy and quieter when they were younger, but she had grown out of it when she first started to train dragons with them.
She was standing in a corner of the cell, her back facing them. She was standing so still that if she didn't know better, she would have thought she had fallen asleep on her own two feet.
She went over to her and asked her gently, "Hele, are you okay? You've been so quiet."
"No, Astrid, I'm not okay," she muttered. She held a tight grip on her arms, her breathing was heavy, in synchronization with her heartbeat.
She gently placed her hands on her shoulders, "Did you want to-"
She swatted her hands away and faced her, "How could Heather do this?! Dagur, I can believe… but her?!" Her eyes were becoming glassy with tears that she struggled to hold in.
She choked on her emotions as she leaned against her friend, wrapping her arms around her. Astrid was surprised by this and returned her embrace to comfort her.
"I want to cry, Astrid!" she sniffled into her shoulder.
She tightened her embrace slightly to help her calm down, "It's okay, Hele. Just let it all out."
"I just…" she choked on her sadness, "I just can't believe she would do this! I thought we were family!"
She patted and rubbed her back, "I know, I know. Don't you worry, Hele, they're going to get what's coming to them."
The three riders flew over many islands for a number of hours. All of them were exhausted, even Snotlout, who slept the entire night while the Haddock brothers didn't. Ladok was so tired that he was slumped over Ripwave's saddle, fading in and out of sleep.
"No more all-nighters, Hiccup," he mumbled, although he was certain no one other than Ripwave heard him.
"Is that the island we're going to?" Snotlout asked, which he had been doing constantly that entire morning.
"No," Hiccup answered, annoyed.
"How about that one?" he asked again.
"Also no," he responded, still annoyed with his repeated questions.
"That one?" he asked once more.
He rolled his eyes, "For the last time-" He looked down at the island and saw that it was the one he was taking them to, "Oh, yeah, that's exactly the one. My bad." He tapped on Toothless and he nudged Ladok with his foot, "Wake up, Ladok. We're here."
He sat up on Ripwave's saddle and yawned, "Took us long enough."
Snotlout took a closer look at it and saw a feature on its surface that was vividly familiar, "Hiccup, I recognize these holes. Why didn't you tell me we were going to an island of Whispering Deaths?"
"Because I knew you would react exactly like this," he replied casually.
He scoffed, "Can you believe this guy?"
Ladok shrugged tiredly, "What's wrong with Whispering Deaths?"
"Oh, I don't know… maybe because they're living saw blades!" he snapped, twirling his fingers, almost losing his balance on Hookfang's saddle.
"Besides," Hiccup continued, "this isn't just an island full of Whispering Deaths. Somebody else lives here too."
All three of the dragons suddenly braked in the air and a large, white, snake-like dragon with a spiky head and tail, disproportionately small wings, red highlights on its scales, and blood-colored eyes emerged from one of the holes on the island. Ladok perked awake and looked down at it with fascination. To him, it looked like a super-sized albino Whispering Death. It was intimidating, yet also a sight to behold; a truly fascinating dragon to witness.
"That- that's the Screaming Death, isn't it?" he asked, astonished.
"Well, looks like someone's finally awake," his brother chuckled.
His jaw hung open with amazement, "Your description of this dragon didn't do it justice."
"The Screaming Death?!" Snotlout screamed. "Are you kidding me, Hiccup?! Why don't we wave him over and have him kill us?"
"Would you just relax?" he scoffed. "When he gets closer, he'll recognize us and calm down."
Ladok remembered some of the things about this dragon and having seen it for himself, he had one thought on his mind, 'I hope so.'
"'Come on out to Screaming Death Island. We'll have a few laughs. Get killed'," he responded to his plan sarcastically. "Worst plan ever. This guy hates us. Let's get out of here."
"Have you forgotten? We reunited him with his mother," he pointed out.
They started to fly down closer to the Screaming Death, but Ripwave suddenly stopped and Ladok couldn't get her to continue, leaving Hiccup and Snotlout to confront it on their own. The albino dragon then noticed them and roared, flying towards them with an open mouth of sharp teeth.
"No, but it looks like he has!" Snotlout shouted.
Hiccup's grip on Toothless' saddle tightened, "Come on, bud, faster!"
"Or maybe he does remember what we did and he just has a lousy relationship with his Mom?" he suggested.
"Can you just shut up for a second?!" Ladok growled.
"Head for those clouds. As soon as we enter, bank right," Hiccup ordered.
They entered the clouds, followed by the Screaming Death. Once they were certain that it no longer had a visual on them, their dragons tilted to their right in unison like a flock of migrating birds. The larger dragon didn't follow them out of the cloud, it was still looking for them there.
"The plan is, wait till he tires himself out then heads home, right?" Snotlout asked Hiccup.
"Nope, we're going back down there," he answered. "There's something in those tunnels we need." He started to fly down to the island again.
"Why can't you ever say 'yes'?" he muttered nervously as he followed him.
"Because that's not Hiccup," Ladok replied, flying ahead of him to catch up with his brother.
While the Screaming Death was distracted, they took the opportunity to fly down into the holes. Ripwave was still as nervous as Snotlout was, but she was willing to go into the tunnels of death if it meant she would see her rider again.
"Did the Screaming Death look even bigger to you?" Snotlout questioned as they walked through the tunnels with lanterns in their hands.
"That's what I was counting on," he smiled.
"Oh, really? Thanks for letting me know," he sarcastically replied.
"Seriously though, Hiccup, what are you planning?" his brother asked. "Why is this significant?"
"Because if he grew that means he had to molt," he responded. "And if he shed his skin, there should be old scales around here somewhere."
He raised his hand and shined his lantern down the tunnel. Upon doing so, the light reflected off of smooth, flat, white disc-like objects on the ground, Screaming Death scales.
Hiccup pointed at them enthusiastically, "Like those!"
"If you're thinking what I think you're thinking, I think your thinking is the worst plan ever," Snotlout stated.
"Well, I disagree," he calmly picked up the scales.
He threw a couple of scales over his shoulder, which Snotlout caught begrudgingly. "I stand corrected. There was the whole 'let Meatlug get captured' idea. That was genius. Really brilliant. A work of art."
"Come on, let's get to work," he gave him and Ladok more scales. "We probably have an hour or two before the Screaming Death-"
Unfortunately, the roar of the said dragon echoed through the tunnels with the snake-like being itself appearing in front of them. It was definitely not happy seeing them in his home.
"Comes back," Ladok finished for him.
"Hiccup, stop acting like you're friends. You don't know this dragon and he clearly doesn't know you," Snotlout asserted.
Ladok looked at him oddly and retorted, "Since when are you our mother?"
"Toothless and I will draw his fire. You two try to make it outta here with as many scales as you can carry," Hiccup told them.
Toothless fired a couple of plasma blasts at it, but it avoided them by burrowing and digging a new tunnel. It reemerged in front of Snotlout and Ladok as they carried its scales, blocking their path.
"Hiccup?" Snotlout asked pointedly.
"No, don't even say it," he responded.
"We're gonna die," he declared blankly.
Before it could strike, a Whispering Death emerged from another tunnel and screeched at the Screaming Death, stopping it from killing them. This newcomer was a female, Ladok could tell by the length of her tail, it was just shy of one hundred feet long, whereas a male's was longer by twenty to thirty feet.
She roared at the white dragon and it left without protest. She then turned to face Hiccup and allowed him to touch her face.
Snotlout's eyes were closed the whole time and he opened them slowly, "What just happened? Did we die?"
Ladok smacked him on the back of his head, causing his helmet to fall over his eyes, "Don't ask stupid questions, Snotlout."
"The Screaming Death didn't remember us, but it looks like his mother did," he replied.
He remembered the last time he and the riders saw the Screaming Death; three years ago, after an intense battle with the Berserker Tribe, it left Outcast Island to live with its mother and siblings in peace. Helene developed a strong connection with its mother, whom she named Groundsplitter, who also happened to be her father's dragon.
Briefly, he wondered if perhaps she would not have intervened if something about them did not remind her of that day. He knew that she likely didn't see them before stopping her colossal offspring, which led him to think that it was possible that Helene's scent was lingering with them, since she was the one she had a personal connection to. Ladok was the only one whom she never saw before, and he was also the one who spent the most time with Helene.
'Note to self, thank Hele when we see her,' he thought. "Now, let's get these scales together, fast!"
They left the isle of tunnels and took the scales to a different island, where Hiccup told them what his plan was. It was to use the Screaming Death's scales as armor for their dragons, to prevent the dragon root arrows from disorienting them.
Such an effort would be very difficult to do with limited time, as they had no idea where the Dragon Hunters would be going with their friends. Fortunately, Snotlout had a lot of experience with sewing - much to the surprise of the Haddock brothers - and would be able to piece all of it together like a puzzle. As long as the dragons were willing to be tailored, it should not be a difficult task.
A couple of hours after he started the armor, Hiccup couldn't help but to admire it, even though he wasn't done yet, "That's amazing. You're almost done already. And Snotlout, your workmanship…"
"My mother taught me everything I know," he grinned as he continued to work.
"Well, if this works, remind me to thank her. Alright, next step, find those Dragon Hunters. Ladok, whaddya got?" he asked his brother.
He was looking through the few maps that Hiccup grabbed before leaving Dragon's Edge, including a crudely drawn one of the hunter ports. While his topology and geography skills were nothing compared to his older brother's, he could still calculate the most likely places where they would be going.
"My guess, they'll go to the nearest markets for more supplies and to sell whatever 'merchandise' they need to get rid of," he surmised. "The Eastern Markets aren't too far from the mainland continent and the closest place for a stop." He drew circles on one of the maps with a quill, "These islands here would be the best place for an ambush."
"It's not an ambush, it's a sneak attack," he corrected him playfully.
He gave him an equally playful smile and laughed, "Is it? My bad."
He had to laugh as well, "Looks like Helene was right about your humor too."
"Hey! Loser-brothers! I'm done over here," Snotlout told them.
"Thanks, Snotlout," Hiccup uttered, his voice hanging with slight sarcasm.
Ladok had managed to tolerate him for most of that day, but he was nearing his boiling point, "Do I have permission to throw Snotlout off of a cliff when we get back to Dragon's Edge?"
"Funny, I was just thinking the same thing," he replied, smiling. "Okay," he clapped his hands, "on to work."
The Dragon Hunters put the riders to work, forcing them to exploit their own dragons for their uniqueness. During that time, they established a plan to escape from the ship and save themselves and their dragons.
At first, it worked smoothly due to Ruffnut's quick thinking and conniving tricks, acting dramatically and stealing a guard's keys. They freed their dragons, except for Barf and Belch, who enjoyed the 'pampering' they were receiving, unaware that the hunters were fattening them with the intention of stealing their skin when they were dead.
Unfortunately, the hunters quickly caught onto their plan before they could escape and separated them so that they couldn't come up with another. Ruffnut was preparing for Barf and Belch to be slaughtered by feeding them fish and oiling their hide, Fishlegs fed rocks to Meatlug in order for her produce Gronckle Iron, Helene was put to work gathering the eggs of weary, reluctantly-bred mother dragons, and Astrid and Tuffnut collected Stormfly's spines, which would be used for the ballistas, and they could not stop arguing.
Tuffnut found it hard to believe that Heather was able to defeat her, Astrid was the strongest person he knew. She countered his argument by saying that she didn't have a weapon to defend herself, which was mostly true.
"I didn't have a mace, or a sword, or a crossbow!" she snapped at him.
"Asking you again, now we're getting hypothetical?" he retorted. "I bet you didn't have eyes that could shoot fire either. I mean-"
"Dragons sighted off the starboard bow," a Dragon Hunter announced. "With riders!"
On the deck of the ship, Ryker spotted Hiccup, Snotlout, and Ladok with his spyglass. He smirked and commanded his men, "Stand by, catapults! Archers, get ready! Wait till they're in range."
"Hiccup, as far as worst plans go, this has to be, by far, your best worst plan ever," Snotlout remarked.
He wasn't sure how to respond to that, "Uh, I'll take that as a compliment."
"Is it a compliment?" Ladok raised a scaly eyebrow.
All three of them started to dive towards the ship, firing at them. They pulled up before they had the chance to strike back.
"A suicide run?" Dagur questioned. "I- I didn't think he had it in him."
Ryker huffed, "The fool."
"Hiccup is no fool," Heather stated. "What is he up to?"
"Well, I'll be sure to ask him after I knock him out of the sky!" he smirked. "Hunters, fire at will!"
Dagur excitedly watched as the arrows flew towards them in droves like migrating birds, "Oh, oh! Look!" Then, the projectiles dropped after bouncing off the dragons, "Uh, what is going on?" He grabbed Ryker's spyglass and saw white scales on the undersides of all of them, "They're wearing some sort of dragon armor!"
Ladok smiled at the hunters' confusion, "Well, I think the armor is a success."
"I'm glad someone thinks so," Hiccup uttered.
Snotlout, however, spotted a flaw in it on Toothless, "Your armor's loose. I knew I should have used a lock stitch, not a cross stitch. Stupid, Snotlout, stupid! Oh, Mom's gonna be so disappointed in me!"
He tried to be optimistic about the failing armor, "Let's hope it holds. Now, take out those two support ships."
On the ship, Heather felt a ruckus below deck and rushed down with her dual-axe, "She's mine."
Ladok watched as someone ran down to the lower decks. Although he couldn't see who it was, he knew what was happening, "Go find her, Ripwave." He jumped from her back to Toothless, causing the loose scales to fall off.
She soared down with the speed of a Night Fury, destroying arrows and other projectiles as she made her way to the ship. She was too fast for the hunters to get her, even when she landed on the deck and ran to find her rider.
Helene took her chance to escape as soon as the commotion started, running out of the cage she was in when the hunter's left. Before she fled, she freed the female dragon the Dragon Hunters forcibly bred and she repaid her by allowing her to take her eggs. She was carrying three Grapple Grounder eggs in a small box as she ran through the ship, trying to find her way out.
All of the riders had their weapons confiscated, including her. She regretted using her knives to intimidate Heather in order to stop her from killing Dagur, because she had nothing to defend herself and protect the eggs with.
She came to a stop at the end of a corridor and discovered an axe on top of a couple of stacked crates. While this weapon was not something she liked to use, nor had a lot of experience with, it was her only option.
A hand grabbed onto her shoulder and she quickly turned around with the axe held high. She relaxed when she saw that it was only Astrid with Stormfly behind her.
She dropped the axe and gave her a hug, "Astrid! I'm glad you're alright."
She hugged her back, "Me too." They pulled apart from each other and she saw the box of red and orange eggs she was carrying, "Are those Grapple Grounder eggs?"
She nodded, "Yep. The mother let me take them. She thought I could get them to a safe place."
She smiled, "Wow! That's quite an honor."
"It definitely is," she smiled down at the eggs. "Now let's get out of here."
They ran down an adjacent corridor, looking for a way to the upper deck. The ship was a maze, they had to look behind every door to see if it would lead them out.
"Hey, you! Stop right there!"
Before they knew it, there were Dragon Hunters coming from both ends of the corridor. Stormfly had her spikes ready to shoot at them, but she was confused and overwhelmed about where.
Then, a familiar sound hit Helene's ears and she smirked. She held the box with one hand and cupped her mouth with the other, letting a silvery, howl-like call. It was her dragon call for Ripwave.
The Shockjaw heard her and managed to find where they were. There was a wall of Dragon Hunters blocking her, but that was no problem for her. She allowed her electricity to build up in her mouth and bit one of the hunters. He started to convulse, causing confusion among the others. Using this as a distraction, she and Stormfly worked together to take down all of them.
When she saw her dragon standing on top of the hunters' bodies, Helene had to smile, "I knew you'd come for me."
Needless to say, Astrid was impressed, "How did you-?"
"You know your dragon and I know mine," she smiled, reticent.
The two girls mounted their dragons and continued finding a way out of the ship, trampling any hunters that unwisely tried to stop them. Finally, they found it and, once they took down a few Dragon Hunters, they were at last flying through the air. Astrid and Helene never knew how much they missed the sunlight and wind hitting them as they flew on their dragons before that moment.
Astrid noticed Ryker preparing to fire an arrow at Hiccup, Toothless, and Ladok, and quickly intervened by having Stormfly use her spines on the bow, knocking it out of his hand, "I told you, you were messing with the wrong Vikings."
"Yeah! Whoa!" Ruffnut cheered from sitting upon Barf.
She and Tuffnut were finally able to get Barf and Belch to move out of the cage they were in after she was assaulted by a Dragon Hunter. Both of the twins agreed that their dragon needed exercise after all of the 'pampering' they were given.
"I may have underestimated these Dragon Riders," Ryker uttered as he watched them fly away.
"Did I see Dagur on that ship?" Hiccup questioned. "Is he with the Dragon Hunters?"
"Not just Dagur!" Ruffnut chimed in.
He raised his eyebrow questionably and Helene decided to give him, Ladok, and Snotlout a brief apprise of the situation, "Heather is there with them. She and Dagur."
"What?!" the brothers exclaimed.
'Well, this is shaping out to be a dream come true,' Snotlout thought.
"Since when?" they queried together.
"It could be a week ago, it could be the last time we saw them," she shrugged. "I don't know and I don't care."
"Well, uh, are you gonna tell your Dad about it?" Ladok asked. "They're his family, too."
"My Dad doesn't care about Dagur, he locked him in a cell for three years. I don't think he gives a shit about Heather either, he captured and almost killed her foster parents," she responded, despondent.
Her tone of voice did not escape him or his brother. It made both of them sympathize with her and her feelings.
"Hiccup, we have a lot to talk about," Astrid uttered, steering them away from her turmoil.
"Yes, we definitely do," he affirmed. He smiled softly at her, at all of them, "I sure am glad you're alright. All of you."
Ladok shifted on Toothless' saddle and held onto Hiccup's shoulder to balance himself, "Sorry, Hiccup."
Before he could protest, he was already standing up and jumping to Ripwave. He sat behind Helene and hugged her from behind, burying his snout in the crook of her neck.
"I missed you," he mumbled into her skin.
She reached behind her and placed her hand onto the back of his head, laughing, "Me too."
I-O-I*~*Y*~*I-O-I
(A/N: Whew! That was a nightmare and a half! But at least it's finally done. :P
Yes, I could have focused solely on Helene and her family conflict with her cousins, but I decided not to because unlike the last story with only her as the main character, this one has two, her and Ladok. Because of that, I wanted this to focus on both of them (with Ladok taking most of the coverage, but just enough to figure out what Helene is going through too).
Well, I'm pretty tired, I've been working on this for a month, it took up a bit of my time. So, I'm just going to let you go (so I can get some sleep lol).)