It was fortunate that the pair arrived back at the fleet when they did. The sun was only just now beginning to lower and each ship was organising and preparing their fighters for what every hunter expected to be a bloodbath. Grizzly smiles and savage laughs could be heard no matter where one turned, showing that most if not all hunters were looking forward to the slaughter as they sharpened their axes and swung their swords. Given the crew that would stay behind to man the battleships and those on board the supply ships that hadn't ended up missing, it still left three hundred blade weilding warriors including Farran himself, perhaps the only one to remain stoic among the crew.
Heather had already headed over to Rykers flagship the moment she had dropped Farran off. The journey back had been a silent one, save for the last few minutes when Farran chose to apologise for his lack of proffesionalism. Luckily she accepted and let that be the end of it. Although she couldn't stay any longer once they had returned. She had to inform Ryker that the ship that they were waiting on would not be arriving. However since the attack was still on it was safe to assume that it wasn't needed and, to Farrans hopes and concerns they would do what he could not and find out if there were any survivors when they were done here. But as Heather said, the mission came first and he intended to focus on that until they succeeded.
He walked across the deck until he was right at the bow of the ship and gazed upon a grim sight. One he had never seen but was enough for him to frown on sight. The home of the dragon riders. The hunters faced scrunched up. He still hadn't forgotten his run in with their leader and it was one memory he did not think too fondly of. Perhaps now would be the time when he would be the one to capture him, although that in and of itself was highly unlikely given his night fury body guard. But even one dragon against three hundred vikings was tough to beat. Their home seemed to be nothing more than a simple island, which may not have been surprising given how few riders there were. But they were formidable enough to need dealing with.
As they got closer Farran could spot several huts build along the front centre of the island. From here they looked easily exposable. A few blasts with some catapults and balistas and those huts would be ripped to pieces, as would anyone inside. But of course in order to do that they would need to get the ships close up to the edge of the island, and who knows what defences would be waiting for them? Maybe that was the reason they had so many ships with them? Perhaps Ryker wished to send a message through a show of force? Or merely attempt to drown the riders in their blood?
He didn't have long to think about it as he heard the captain yell out something. In seconds he found the majority of hunters were making their way to the sides of the ship. It turned out that the hunters chosen to fight were suddenly ordered to take the lifeboats to the beach out of view of Dragons Edge where they could set up their forces. Once learning this himself Farran immediatley jumped onboard the closest boat and forced himself to wait patiently as the tiny wooden vessel carried himself and twenty others to the empty deserted beach.
The boat ferried them over without worry. One or two hunters expected one of the riders to appear on dragon back and begin blasting the defenceless boats but clearly those worries were put to rest once they reached their destination. Everyone poured out from the boats and quickly covered every inch of sand in the area. Those who hadn't readied up yet recieved what they needed, including Farran who recieved a crossbow. The weapon he had been most familiar with since joining the Hunters from day one. The prod seemed slightly worn and the bumpy wooden stock rested uncomfortably against his shoulder but it could do what it was built for and that was all that mattered.
"Oi! You there!" Called an all too familiar voice.
Farran looked from inspecting his weapon to find Ryker himself emerging out of the crowd and more importantly coming right at him pointing one of his beefy fingers at the hunter clearly letting him know that the muscular leader was after him. For what though he was about to find out.
"Sir." Farran addressed, standing with his weapon at the ready, prepared to perform whatever order was given to him.
It didn't take much longer for Ryker to storm over and poke his soldier in the chest hard. "I need a small team out there to check the Edge, see if it's abandoned! You're going with them, understood?"
"Yes sir." Farran nodded.
The young hunter wasted no time in getting out of Rykers sight. He imagined that the riders up in the edge would get quite the surprise when the full might of the hunter armarda attacked. Despite having no pity or remorse for his enemy, he hoped that they were enjoying what remained of their time.
./././././././././././././.
Astrids mood soured further. She was most certainly not enjoying her time carrying her latest stack of logs to the edge of the cliff face. It had been hard enough to accept that Hiccup and the others had to leave and help trader Johan without her much needed assistance, but also she had to work side by side with the twins gods help her. If it weren't for them she wouldn't be needing to keep replacing the lumber they kept accidentally knocking into the sea. Maybe it would have been simpler to have them clean the stables. But she kept in mind this was the twins she was thinking about. They'd find a way to mess things up. Again.
Speaking of the twins, Astrid took notice of her surroundings and found that the pair were nowhere in sight, and perhaps more surprisingly the log pile she had spent ages setting back up had remained intact. However given this small maracle, she sighed.
"Really." She said out loud. "Where in Thors name could you two have-"
A sudden series of cheers cut her off and she turned her head to find none other than Ruffnut and Tuffnut ziplining towards her position from the cliff above, and that they were approaching at quite some speed. Unable to slow down the troublesome duo crashed into the watchtower where the rope they were ziplining down ended and landed onto the log pile directly beneath them a little winded from the sudden impact. And as if Loki himself chose to add in a little extra mischief, the log pile the twins had 'gracefully' landed on became undone. Astrid who had watched this whole thing looked away, unable to watch as the log pile broke apart and fell into the sea. Again! She could feel what little patience she had remaining towards the twins begin to finally break.
"Astrid, you have got to try this." Tuffnut Exclaimed, oblivious to what he had just done. And as it turned out, so was his sister Ruffnut as she agreed. "The landing's a little rough, but-"
"Astrid, we know this wasn't what you were planning." Ruffnut abrubty took over for her brother."But we really think we're onto something here. The stairs have their own use for sure, but this can truly come in handy." She referred to the zipline they had decided to go ahead and make anyway. Astrid on the other hand looked ready to snap she was so angry.
"It can, huh?" She challenged, not even bothering to hide her irritation which neither twin picked up on right away.
"Yes." Ruffnut continued. "In the right situations-"
"And what situations would those be exactly, Ruffnut?"
"Well, I mean, we could...If we were in a-"
"You have no clue, do you? Didn't think so."
Tuffnut quickly asked his sister something that Astrid didn't pick up on, mostly because she was too preoccupied blowing off steam.
"And do you know why?" She continued refusing to let up on her rant. "Because the two of you don't think! You don't plan! You just come up with these crazy ideas and you forge ahead, with no regard for logic or what you're even supposed to be doing! What am I going to do with you guys? Seriously, tell me!"
"Well you can start by being kind." Ruffnut responded, not taking this latest bit of criticism with much positivity. Oh wait, you can't do that because kindness in nowhere in that scrawny little body of yours."
"What?" Astrid replied, surprised to receive such a reply. Tuffnut sensing the oncoming storm tried to coax his sibling into calming down but she was having none of it. "Do you know what your problem is Ruffnut?"
"Oh you bet I do. I've got a list of problem so long I can't even keep track. Question is, do you know what your problem is Astrid?"
"MY problem? Are you serious?"
"Allow me to lay it out for you my Flaxen haired friend. You have no respect for the people around you who are just trying to be a part of the team. You have no respect for Fishlegs, certainly none for Snotlout, and you couldn't have less respect for the two of us! Now, you can go ahead and shame the others. You can mock this entire island of dragons if you wish. But I am not gonna stand here and listen to you insult the entire Nut family tree!"
Having said what she needed to say Ruffnut finally stormed off leaving Astrid to reflect on her words. She needed a moment to calm down before she ended up doing something she regretted. Maybe it would do her some good to head back to the lookout tower where she could be alone. A shame Barf and Belch weren't around to give her a ride right now. Not that it mattered too much considering what she had just gone and done. Besides, perhaps the walk would help clear her head.
./././././././././././././././././.
Farran calmly trekked through the spaced out forest with his weapon at the ready. Two bigger hunters flanked him, ready to attack without a moments hesitation. They had been making their way as best they could towards the riders base, unsure what to expect. It was just as well that this was just a scouting mission. Normally it would be up to Heather and her flying hunk of metal to deal with these kinds of missions but considering that the dragon riders would very likely have eyes and flyers in the sky an attempt on the ground would make the scouting report go more smoothly. The lead hunter, Farran found himself thankful to be paired with a duo of silent soldiers, much like himself. It let him focus and have time to keep an eye out for opposition without being distracted by pointless banter. After perhaps half an hour they finally came across an opening. A huge watchtower stood in the centre of it. They were about to step out into the open area when all of a sudden someone stepped into their line of sight making their way up the watchtower. It was a dragon rider. One that Farran did not recognise. This one seemed to be on their own thankfully. However if they had a watchtower this far out then it could mean more riders, and perhaps a few dragons between them and their goal. They would risk getting caught if they tried heading any further in their enemies territory. The dark night was approaching faster than expected so whatever they were going to do they would need to move fast.
"Great. What now?" One of the hunter moaned.
Farran paused for a moment and decided on what the best course of action would be. It didn't take long to think up a plan.
"If I can get to the top of the watchtower, I may be high enough to check out the base from a safe enough distance. We won't have to worry about risking our presence."
"What about the rider?"
"I'll deal with it. Do you have a spy glass?"
The hunter to his left passed over the desired item and Farran snuck around the side of the watchtower, using the forest line as cover until he was more or less behind it allowing him to quickly sprint across the open area without being spotted. Knowing his crossbow wouldn't do any good at such close range, he laid it down against the stone and slowly made his way up the stairs, crouching and ready to pounce should he be spotted. As he did this he managed to hear the rider speak. She sounded irritated.
"Astrid Astrid Astrid! Everyone's always talking about Astrid." She complained. "How pretty she is, how smart she is. "How muscular and shapely her upper arms are."
Farran continued upwards. It sounded as though he hadn't been the only one to have a tough day. He followed the stairs up until he found himself right at the top where the rider had her back to him, staring at a bunch of dummies.
"How can Astrid not see the genius in Stuffnut and Fluffnut?"
Unsure what she was going about, nor did he care, Farran crept up behind her. If things played out well enough he could end up with a hostage to use against the riders. At the least they would be down one rider. The second he was but inches behind her he threw one hand around her mouth and the other around her waist and lifted her up off the ground with ease. Almost right away Farran was met with resistance, although not from the riders struggling but more her hair which carried the surprisingly horrific stench of fish oil. Unable to deal with this the hunter chose to toss her onto the walkway and pull out his knife and held it to her throat.
"Keep silent if you want to live." He ordered coldly before signalling the others to emerge from the tree line and help secure her.
"A dragon hunter? Seriously?" The rider asked sounding more annoyed than afraid. "Ugh! Can this day get any worse?"
"I said quiet." Farran snapped, pulling her back onto her feet while keeping the knife close to her throat.
"Buddy, I don't keep quiet for anyone on my own team! What makes you think I'm gonna listen to you?"
"Because if you don't I will take this knife and will cut you into pieces. Starting with your fingers and then your hands and then your arms, slicing off every body part on your person before burning what remains with a very dangerous, very bloodthirsty razorwhip until your miserable screams die out and you become nothing more than a pile of ash! Does that answer your question?"
"... Yeah that sounds about right..." She eventually agreed.
"Good. Oh and by the way, you really need to wash your hair." He muttered in disgust. The smell still lingered in his nostrils.
Thankfully before the conversation could go any further the other hunters approached and restrained the rider between the pair of them, going so far as to throw a sack over her head. Most likely in order to keep her from learning about their landing party's location.
"Take her to Ryker." Farran ordered despite having no actual authority or power over his team. "I'll catch up once I've checked out the edge."
The two agreed, happy enough to return with something that would no doubt please their masters and left Farran to his own devices. Unclipping the spyglass from his belt he used the tool to view what he could between the trees. Thankfully a majority of the enemy base could be seen from his location where he could spot some of its defences including a very powerful ballista. No riders however could be spotted. Perhaps that was for the best. If they weren't out scanning the horizon then maybe they were resting in their huts, unaware of what was about to come. Or better yet they may have been out on some kind of mission of their own. Farran imagined the looks on their faces as they would return only to find their home burned and turned into smoking debris. Unable to check out the rest of the base without risking his own discovery he decided to join his fellow hunters and fall back to the beach, not bothering to pay attention to the chicken running from the watchtower and to the base.