Omegas walked much more confidently along the corridors of the ship now that he had his axe. It was weighted to perfection and was a soothing presence on his back. Alphas was positively glowing with boldness as he strode along the wooden floors, sword and dagger snug in their respective sheaths.
Never hurt to be armed, after all.
He tapped Alphas on the shoulder, and he looked back with a questioning look on his face, as though he was snapping back to reality. Knowing his brother, he'd probably been distracted by some thought or another, and was walking without really paying attention to it.
"Recap for me here? I wasn't exactly paying attention when you were explaining," he said.
Alphas snorted. "You really liked that sword huh?"
Omegas just shrugged and gave him a sheepish smile.
"Right," Alphas said. "So the plan is to roam around until we find the dragons, kill anyone who gets in the way, take the dragons to the cells then beat the living crap out of every ship here."
"Simple enough, I got it."
"Yeah."
"One thing that's been concerning me though," Omegas began, then hesitated. Alphas glanced at him, and slowed his walking speed so he fell back beside him, and continued at a matching pace.
"What?"
Omegas held up his hand so the bracers that had been fitted onto his wrists, that had burned into his skin and sizzled with multicoloured magic, were visible. Alphas' face became immediately serious as his eyes settled on the brown leather, the metal studs, the binding sigils.
"Aha. How they have access to magic." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
"Honestly, I was just thinking about that. Myre isn't magical and all the mages hate him. I can't fathom how he would get his hands on the sigils, let alone be able to put them together, if we were all entirely opposed."
Omegas chuckled, and Alphas looked at him, frowning in confusion even as his mouth quirked upwards in humour.
"Scary stuff and all, and I don't want you to think I'm not taking this seriously, but I love watching you do your whole theorizing thing," he grinned teasingly.
"Oh, shut up," Alphas laughed and hit him lightly on the shoulder.
A yell, and a black flash that they both just narrowly managed to avoid. Omegas jerked his arm and flicked the shield out of his gauntlet as Alphas drew his sword, and they looked back to see the familiar black arrow embedded in the wood. They looked back to see a soldier holding his bow and arrow to them, his hands trembling.
There was a sound of running boots in the distance. Crap. That yell must have alerted some of them.
Alphas leapt at the assailant, sword held out in front as he fired off another arrow. Alphas shifted the blade so it nudged the arrow head at just the right spot, just the right angle, and it ricocheted away at Omegas, who raised his left arm and blocked it as there was a cry and then a gurgle and then the unmistakable sound of flesh being cleaved away by a blade honed to perfection.
The soldier hit the ground as blood dripped from Alphas' blade. He stepped over him and looked off to the right, then beckoned for Omegas to follow as he ran off, drawing his dagger. Omegas followed, his footsteps timed to the sound of clashing weapons and vocalizations of pain.
He turned the corner to Alphas carving his way through a crowd, every stroke, every slash precise and deadly. The thought just barely registered in his mind before he instinctively charged, a hand coming up over his shoulder to grab the handle of his axe, and he too began to paint the walls red to a symphony of screams.
=0=
There was a clanging crash and the rush of flames as Hiccup barely parried the dagger the intruder wielded. Firelight shone in those shimmering eyes that stared straight at him, unblinking. Snotlout had a hand wrapped around their enemy's mouth, keeping him from saying anything. Despite the cutoff from any possible help, this soldier had kept his calm and immediately adapted by pulling a dagger from somewhere on his person and twisting his arm around to stab Snotlout. It was almost like he refused to panic.
These were a completely different breed of Dragon Hunters, and it did not bode well.
Hiccup had rushed at him and caught the blade in one of the hollow parts of Inferno. Momentary surprise had immediately faded away to be replaced by a determined look in the Hunter's eyes.
He'd seen that look in Alphas' eyes too. The only difference was the feeling it inspired. Alphas inspired awe, a bold encouragement, wonder, respect.
To see the same thing in the eyes of this soldier only gave him a feeling of apprehension, fear, an anxiety that gripped at his heart and tightened his chest.
Maybe he was afraid that there were more people like Alphas who were against them. Who were not afraid to kill.
Snotlout had, however, managed to wrap the other arm around the soldier's throat, with some difficulty. Hiccup did his absolute best to engage the dagger, and succeeded for the most part. Right as he was about to lose consciousness, his arm jerked upwards and the blade flicked against Snotlout's forearm. He hissed in pain as he began to bleed, but didn't let go until the man before them dropped to the ground.
"Ow. Someone have anything to wrap this with? It hurts."
On the other side of the room, Astrid was breathing hard with her axe against the throat of another intruder, while the twins scrambled across the floor to grab his weapons, a simple pair of short swords. Fishlegs had knocked the spear out of another's hand and barrelled into him, slamming him against the wall and knocking him out with his sheer weight. He was now slumped against the wall.
"Fish? You have anything for Snotlout?" Astrid asked, her eyes never leaving the man she now stood over.
"Ah, give me a minute," Fishlegs, rummaging through his pouch.
"I have something for that."
A husky voice that sounded like it had never been used, carefully spoken words, slow speech. All heads turned to the only conscious enemy in the room. He looked young, now that Hiccup properly looked at him. Light brown hair, pale skin, and the same standard black and red leather and dragonscale uniform that they all seemed to wear, a red scaly vest over midnight fabric. Despite the situation, he looked completely calm, eyes occasionally glancing here and there.
The exquisite rational thought of these hunters, these soldiers, terrified Hiccup. He was not Alphas or Omegas, none of them were. But these soldiers… were something close. Military men, to the core.
"I'm sorry?" Astrid said through gritted teeth. The soldier's eyes flickered to her.
"I have something for your friend," he said. "For the blood."
"And why, why in all the worlds should we trust you?" she snarled. He blinked placidly, then, as carefully as he could in the position on the floor beneath her foot and her axe, he shrugged.
"You shouldn't, " he replied simply. Astrid opened her mouth to say something, but before she could, he continued.
"The choice is yours, whether you want your friend to bleed out or you want the bandaging kit I have in my left pocket."
"Your left what?" Hiccup frowned. "Pocket? What's that?"
The soldier stared at him for a moment, then looked back up at Astrid.
"Can I just use my left hand for a second?"
She didn't respond for a long moment, during which time Snotlout clutched his arm tightly as his fingers reddened.
A drop of blood hit the wooden floors.
"Fine," Astrid relented. She adjusted her axe so the blade wasn't impeding the movement of his left arm. Slowly, he reached downwards to his waist, and further down to a slit in the pants leg of his left thigh. He put a hand in, and after a moment, pulled out a small paper package. He tossed it with an expert flick of the wrist and it slid across the floor to Snotlout.
Hiccup reached over and ripped the brown packing apart to find a simple tightly folded square of cloth with an unlabelled bottle of clear liquid. He squinted at it and held it up to the daylight that seeped through the cell windows, trying to discern anything that could register in his memory.
"It's supposed to stop you from getting sick, if you rub it on the cut," the soldier spoke up. He had laced his fingers and placed his hands behind his head as per Astrid's request. Well, not request. More of a very fierce order, with the promise of a very painful experience if it was not listened to.
"Again," Hiccup said, shaking his head, "why should we trust you on this?"
He shrugged once more. "Like I said, you don't need to. It's just a benefit. Skip it if you want."
Hiccup gave it a moment of thought, staring at the cloth and the bottle as his mind raced. Everyone was silent as they watched him contemplate.
"For Thor's sake Hiccup, just put it on already! I don't care whether you put that stuff on or not but I'd really like to stop bleeding right about now!" Snotlout burst out. Hiccup started, and looked over at him sheepishly.
"Sorry Snot."
He uncorked the bottle and held the cloth to it, waiting. He was aware of all eyes in the room on him, including the soldier.
The door burst open and they all started as Alphas sauntered in, clothes stained a fresh scarlet and red on his fingers. Omegas came in just moments later, holding an axe with a dark grey blade the surface of which seemed to be in a state of frozen flux and which too was splattered with blood, as was the handle and his clothes. At the sight of them the soldier stiffened.
"Hello!" Alphas said cheerfully, pausing in the midst of a step taken as his leg swung forward without ever touching down, rising and then falling backwards like a pendulum. He balanced on one foot alone, cutting a horrific figure even in the bright midday sunlight that penetrated the prison, sword hilt visible over his shoulder and a smile on his face that did not mix at all with the bloodstains on his body. Omegas did not go for the same forwardness as his brother, but his presence too was something to encourage wariness as he stood loosely to the side, looking down at their latest prisoner with a bloody axe gripped by two fingers and a thumb alone.
Hiccup decided that no matter their statements about an alliance, he absolutely needed to watch his back.
Alphas noticed the cloth in his hand, and the bottle he was holding to it.
"What's that?"
"Bandages that he gave us," Hiccup answered, pointing to their captive. He froze under Hiccup's finger, and shot a fearful look at Alphas, whose expression had faded into something sadistic.
"Is that so?" he whispered, kneeling down to the soldier. Every word was laced with venom, every enunciated syllable sent another visible shot of terror through the unfortunate prisoner.
"You think you can trick them like that, do you?" His voice, now low and harsh, reverbated off the iron bars in the doors and pierced the wood. It turned every muscle into a taut adrenaline-ridden mess, and drilled through the ears like a Screaming Death.
"You think you can kill them?" He leaned in closer, staring straight, unblinking into the soldier's eyes, and his target, no, his victim, breathed harder, faster, fear mounting with every new heartbeat. Alphas gave him a smile that was more a show of teeth, a snake baring its fangs before the deadly strike.
"Not on my watch."
And he straightened up and kicked him in the jaw so hard he slammed into the metal door just inches behind him with enough force to leave a dent in the criss-cross of iron. The soldier did not move, and a trickle of blood found its way down the back of his head and onto the wooden floors.
Alphas shifted.
"That will probably have alerted them. 'Megas, you lead them to the dragons. I'll stay here and fight off any that come down here."
Omegas nodded and turned, motioning for them to follow.
"Oh, and Hiccup," Alphas called as they silently filed out. Hiccup turned warily as Alphas drew his sword with an ominous shink. It too had little flecks of blood adorning its length, some in thin, perfect parallel lines. He realized he must have wiped it on something.
"Yeah?"
Alphas held his sword in a single hand, taking a few experimental swings, then settled into a strong stance facing the prison entrance. He looked back, and there was a small, sad smile on his face that caught Hiccup off guard with his fresh memories of that display of brutal dominance.
"Sorry about that. I don't like those kind of sneaky tricks. He almost poisoned… Snotlat, is that his name?"
"Close," Hiccup said hesitantly. "It's Snotlout."
"Ah. Alright. Don't use that bandage he gave you. It's got a severe venom in it now. Ask 'Megas to grab you a fresh strip on your way. And remind him to tell you about the… complications."
"Complications?"
"Ask 'Megas. Run along now." He grinned.
"Your dragon's waiting."
And Hiccup left Alphas to fight off the yells and clinks of metal that thundered towards them from above, following Omegas as he led them through a labyrinth of musty corridors. He caught up to the Arcanum and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned with a raised eyebrow. Hiccup tried to ignore a particularly vibrant shade of red on his neck.
"Alphas said there were complications…?"
Omegas nodded. "Yeah. Listen up, all of you. You'll have to adapt to a very different situation in a bit."