Chapter 9

Hiccup was the first to do a patrol. It had been almost automatic – from the moment he was awake enough to formulate a thought, the word 'patrol' had echoed through his mind. He could almost hear Snotlout mockingly calling him Princess Outpost as he rose to awaken Freedom and scour the island for life. He wanted to find out what the men that had attacked them yesterday had done – whether they had found Stormchaser's destruction and attempted to escape on rafts or stuck around to avenge their vessel. But first, he had to find out where they were.

The feel of the wind in his hair and the glow of the rising sun as he flew on Freedom was so familiar – yet felt hauntingly different. This wasn't just a normal pre-emptive round of the island, this wasn't the Edge and it wasn't Toothless he was riding. He was starting to understand why Snotlout had been about to leave the Edge that one time when they thought Hookfang had gone feral. So much about flying Freedom reminded him in painful ways of Toothless. He was grateful for the dragon, he had been much-needed support, after all. But flying him now felt weird, almost wrong.

He drew himself out of his thoughts to scan the horizon. He was now flying over parts of the island that were unfamiliar to him. He had yet to explore the whole isle since he and Viggo mainly just needed access to the spring, and he'd been to the cliffs and the beach. But here on the other side of the island, the forest thinned and the land rose up and down in rolling hills. Hiccup squinted to see what looked like another bay in the distance. But before they could reach it, he heard a growl.

"What is it, Freedom?" he said as he followed the Monstrous Nightmare's gaze down directly below them and tensed. Beneath them were a group of Hunters talking. It was a wonder they hadn't spotted the colourful dragon and rider in the sky. Hiccup quickly directed Freedom to land as quietly as possible in a nearby tree and Hiccup silently pleaded to whichever god happened to be listening that they wouldn't be seen as it bent at their weight. And as the tree bowed towards the group, some of whom seemed to be injured from yesterday's fighting, Hiccup strained to hear their conversation.

"Sir, the traitor's dragon has burnt our main ship to the ground," one said, gesturing frustratedly in the direction of the bay. Others in the group grumbled in displeasure and Hiccup was fairly certain he heard a few curse words amidst mutterings of 'cursed lightning beast'. The apparent leader nodded grimly.

"Yes. But I do have some good news," he said, looking around at the group of six. "Lars went scouting last night and found a wooden hut in the middle of the forest. He thinks that's where the traitor is hiding the boy." Hiccup scowled. So Viggo was dubbed 'traitor' among the Hunters now? He wondered if any of them knew just how many people Johann had betrayed. Yet the Hunters also seemed to have picked up on the patronising nickname Johann used for him too: 'boy'. But what was truly worrying was that the Hunters knew their location and still seemed intent on capturing him. Hiccup couldn't fathom how they planned on getting him off the island, but even if they were stranded, he didn't like the idea of being at the hands of half a dozen rogue Hunters out for revenge.

"The plan is to draw them out and separate them by…" the leader continued. But just as Hiccup leaned forward to hear the Hunters intentions, a Skrill distress call echoed through the forest, drawing his attention. He frowned. Was Viggo in trouble? Did that mean that this group of Hunters wasn't the only one? Or was something entirely unrelated happening?

"Freedom," he whispered in the dragon's ears. "Get us out of here." He growled in reply and Hiccup had to smile sadly as the Monstrous Nightmare spread his wings so that the tree slowly straightened, just as Toothless had done all those years ago when he had practically kidnapped Astrid. But unlike what had happened back then, Freedom gently took off, manoeuvring surprisingly quietly as to not alert any of the Hunters to their presence. Hiccup had the information he had come for.

When the clearing neared again, Hiccup spotted Viggo standing outside next to Stormchaser, his face creased with worry. There was not a Hunter in sight, much to his relief.

"Viggo?" he called. The Grimborn turned to face him and the concern seemed to melt off his face.

"Hiccup, you're alright!" he said, smiling with relief. Hiccup frowned in confusion until he suddenly realised that Viggo must have assumed his absence meant that he'd been captured.

"Oh…" he muttered nervously as Freedom landed. He rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah… sorry about that. I just did a patrol of the island to find the Hunters." Viggo looked surprised.

"Did you find them?" he asked. Hiccup nodded.

"They know where we are. I overheard them planning – they're still after me." Viggo frowned.

"What would you suggest we do?" he asked.

"Go to meet them." There was no hesitation.

"With dragons?" Viggo asked and Hiccup paused. That partly depended on whether or not the Hunters had dragon root arrows. The arrows in the crossbow yesterday had just been regular ones, but that didn't mean they wouldn't pull out a batch of the poisoned ones in their second attempt at capturing their target. He looked down at Freedom. Yesterday, the dragon had taken off the moment a Hunter had appeared on the beach, even though it had just been two. He had no idea what the Monstrous Nightmare had been through, but he certainly wasn't comfortable with taking him into battle.

"Not Freedom. He's not trained for battle and fled from the beach yesterday. I don't think he's ready to face the Hunters," he answered. Viggo nodded, turning to face the magnificent Skrill.

"What do you say, dragon?" he asked, a slight smile of expectancy on his face. "Are you up for a fight?" Stormchaser roared, lightning almost jumping off his skin. Viggo smirked at Hiccup. "I think that's a yes," he said and Hiccup would have laughed had the idea of impending battle not been heavy in his mind. He slid off his dragon's back and patted his head.

"You keep yourself out of the way of the Hunters, alright Freedom?" he said, smiling at the affectionate nudge he got in reply. And when Hiccup pulled Inferno out of its sheath, the dragon flew into the sky, presumably to somewhere safe, leaving the three remaining to check their weapons before they started their trek towards the other side of the island.

Most of the walk passed in silence – a silence that lasted long enough for the tension in Hiccup's body to relax slightly. They may be three against six but he found himself to be cautiously optimistic about their chances. Anything could happen once they started fighting – but one thing was sure, he had learnt from the last time someone had tried to take him. He wouldn't get so badly beaten this time.

It was clear that everyone heard the Hunters at the same time – their opponent wasn't exactly being quiet and everyone's demeanour changed the moment the voices came into earshot. Both fire swords were ignited and Hiccup was fairly certain the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end as Stormchaser prepared himself for battle. It wasn't long before the Hunters came into sight in the sparse forest and Hiccup hoped they wouldn't just mindlessly attack. He wanted to be able to get a word in edgeways before all hell broke loose.

"There they are!" someone in the group shouted.

"You there, boy, why don't you hand yourself over to us and save us all the effort of the fight?" called another. Viggo cast a warning glance at Hiccup as they moved closer as if forbidding him to do such a thing. He would have reassured him that he had no intention of surrendering had he not been so intent on using this opportunity to get information.

"How about you tell me this: what does Johann want?" he shouted at them. He might not expect them to answer directly, but hopefully, they would tell him something of use. However, to his surprise, the men glanced among themselves silently – and then stopped moving closer and burst out laughing. All of them. Hiccup glanced warily at Viggo, who shrugged as if to say 'don't look at me' before glancing at Stormchaser. The Skrill roared and a thunderclap boomed from the heavens as if answering his call. The Hunters' mockery vanished in an instant as they fearfully looked up at the sky. Eventually the most fearless out of them answered, a smirk still lingering on his face.

"We don't work for that cranky old hunchback anymore," he said.

"Hunchback?" Hiccup asked, not sure if he was understanding correctly. "You mean Johann?" More laughter in reply.

"Have you seen the old haggard run?" Another piped up, causing another wave of hysterics. The Hunter raised his crossbow, but just as Hiccup raised Inferno to defend himself, the man made a show of making an ugly face, hunching over and running in circles. Several Hunters lowered their weapons as they forgot the premise of near-battle and seemed to completely lose it at the Johann impression. Hiccup was beside himself in confusion.

"Who are you working for then? Krogan?" he asked. None of the Hunters appeared to hear him.

"Krogan is dead," Viggo said quietly, his eyes never leaving their opponents.

"What?!" Hiccup shouted, but Viggo ignored him, raising his voice to get the Hunters' attention.

"Who do you work for?" he shouted at them and in an instant, the joy of the previous moment appeared to vanish. Some of them glanced at each other.

"We're freelancers," one of them said. "We don't work for anyone." He said it with an air of pride, but the Hunter next to him seemed unimpressed.

"Yeah, because no one seems to need soldiers now the war is over," he said glumly.

"So now we're bounty hunters," said another. Hiccup's eyes widened.

"There's a price on my head?" The Hunter shrugged.

"Nah, there aren't many bounties going around at the moment. But we thought if we caught you, we can demand ransom,"

"From who?"

"Haven't decided yet," the man said, shrugging again. "Maybe old hunchback. He had you for a while, didn't he? Or Bloody-wrist, whatever his name is. Getting into his good books would be nice." Hiccup didn't bother trying to work out who he was referring to. "Either way, we can find out once we've nabbed you." At once, all of the Hunters raised their weapons again and Hiccup could hear the crackles of lightning from Stormchaser behind him. He narrowed his eyes as he raised his sword defensively, the flames licking the blade.

Then the Hunters charged and everything turned to chaos. Two of them headed for Viggo and four ran towards him. They're prioritising, he groaned to himself. The optimism that had been there before the confrontation had evaporated by now. It was a mercy that Stormchaser shot a white-hot lightning bolt at one of the men, causing violent spasms before the man collapsed. But three more men were running towards him with axes held high and it didn't exactly ease his mind when a few moments later, an ear-piercing dragon screech split the air.

But he didn't have time to worry about the thud of the Skrill collapsing before the bombardment of the Hunters' attack reached him. He did his best to block the blows but he had one sword against three axes and there was only so much he could do. He found himself backing away from them to give himself more space and while he realised that this was exactly how they planned to pick him off, he didn't have a choice.

He growled with frustration as his sword grated against one Hunter's axe, creating another deafening sound. Every blow was draining him of energy and he could feel it. At no point so far had he managed to make an offensive move, or even attempt to disarm or incapacitate any of his attackers. And it didn't seem any more likely when one of the Hunters pushed hard on his axe to the point where Hiccup's arms were starting to give out. Then a perfectly timed blow from another of the Hunters caused his wrist to twist and he cried out in pain. Inferno slipped from his grip and embedded into the ground and Hiccup was left gasping and panicking. He ducked just in time to avoid an axe to the shoulder but when someone kicked his prosthetic he crumpled to the ground, only rising enough to scramble backwards as the three Hunters encroached on him.

He had told himself he had learnt from last time, that he wouldn't get so badly beaten. He hadn't so far, but now he was unarmed. He glanced around him in alarm, searching desperately for Viggo but he could see nothing but forest. The Hunters had been successful. They'd separated him.

Hiccup's back hit a tree and with that sensation came another of defeat. The Hunters were standing in a circle around him now, smirks on their faces. He looked up at the apparent leader of the group, who raised an eyebrow in an unspoken question. Part of him screamed at him to not give himself up. He didn't want to imagine what his captors would do to him. But he had told himself he wouldn't get so badly beaten.

So he raised his arms in surrender.

A/N: Another very dramatic chapter ending, I know. But I can't help myself ;) Let me know your thoughts in the reviews, I do so love reading them, and I'll see you next chapter!

~httyfangirl123