Farran found himself surprised yet a little disappointed when he found himself awake inside of what appeared to be some sort of prison cell. He had expected his life to come to a harsh and brutal close battling against the riders. While he didn't recall killing any dragons, he had certainly injured a couple. Perhaps permanently if he was lucky enough. Still, as much as the thought brought about a much needed boost, he decided it was wiser to see if he could find out where he was.

Not surprisingly his weapons and equipment had been stripped from his person, leaving him almost defenceless. Almost. He could still sink his fist into a riders face should he be given the chance, or if suicidal enough a dragon.

It was dark. His eyes needed time to adjust to the area outside of the wooden bars. He tried to stand but a sharp pain in his leg kept him grounded. At that moment each and every injury he sustained made themselves known through stings, burns and throbs. He was in no condition to do much of anything in this state. It made him feel vulnerable, easy to finish off. No Viking... no dragon hunter wanted nor deserved to go out in such a way. Rotting away from the inside of a prison cell. Some would much rather death were they desperate enough. Farran refused the idea right away. Even if every bone in his body was broken he'd find a way to go out fighting, granting him the right to enter Valhalla.

By the time the hunters eyes got used to the dark, he found the room he was being held in to be much bigger than he had expected. He spotted several other cells lined up opposite his side of the room as well as an enormous metal door, which from the looks of it was locked from the outside. Apart from that one barricade, the rest of the room was made entirely of wood. There was also a second floor, though more of a walkway, containing even more cells. What was unsettling was that they were all empty meaning that he was the only prisoner here or there were others being interrogated.

At least it was quiet. Gave the hunter time to think about what would happen next. Would he be left here to starve to death or perhaps questioned on the dragon hunters operations? Or maybe as the ultimate insult, used as sustenance for the riders dragons. Nothing seemed to hold even the slightest glimmer of hope for him. Maybe someone would come to his rescue? Doubtful. Not only had they just lost an invasion but it seemed highly unlikely that Ryker would waste time and resources sending a rescue team for one hunter. Or maybe they would, only instead of rescuing him, they would kill him themselves so as to keep the enemy from learning anything.

Suddenly he heard a large clunking noise coming from the metal door which slowly slid to the right allowing a tiny ray of sunshine through bringing some much needed light to the dark and barren building. As the door slid open more and more, the entire room was almost right away filled with the warm glow of the sun, other than a couple patches of floor which were covered by shadows which stretched out until they nearly touched the opposite wall.

Farran watched silently as a blond-haired girl entered along with a blue nadder. The pair strolled down the other side of the building until they reached one of the many cells. The girl then opened the door to one and gently led the dragon inside before walking back out and locking it. Farran then quickly realised that he hadn't been placed in a prison cell after all, but rather a holding pen. The fact made him crawl on the inside.

Then as if noticing the hunter for the first time, the girl looked right at him. Her once gentle caring face quickly morphed into one of anger and disgust. Farran paid no mind to the look and stared back with a tired bored expression. Right now, the rider was not worth getting riled up over. He needed to save his strength for whatever punishment would soon come his way. Without a single word she walked out and closed the door with a sharp bang which echoed through the building. Now the hunter had been left with a dragon to keep him company.

The beast blinked at the hunter, cocking its head and letting out a puzzled squawk. After half a minute it seemed to quickly lose interest in him and curled up on the floor to sleep. Farran thought to do the same since he had nothing better to do. He only got a few minutes before the metal door opened again. This time it was a skinny boy his own age, wearing some kind of brown armour and padding. One of his feet had been replaced with some kind of prosthetic that the hunter had never seen before. By his side, as though fate had decided to spite the hunter was the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. The night fury. Hoping that the boy had merely come to return his pet to its pen, the hunter was shocked to see them heading in his very direction. The boy had a blank unreadable face, but the night fury, well, there was no mistaking those growls.

Remaining stone-faced himself, Farran merely waited until they were right next to the bars of the pen. He half expected the door to the pen to be opened only for the black dragon to climb inside and rip him limb from limb. Thankfully that did not happen as the one legged Viking opened his mouth to speak.

"Ah, good, you're finally awake. We were beginning to worry there for a moment." He said in an oddly cheerful voice. "Guess we can tell Heather to stop pacing back and forth outside Astrids hut."

Farran said nothing. He dismissed the riders words believing them to be nothing more than a lie, but continued to listen anyway.

"Seems you've made quite the impact on her too, which is... interesting, to say the least. Meaning you're either a very smooth talker or just incredibly lucky." His tone made it sound like he was joking. As though trying to strike up a conversation with an old friend. To the hunter it felt demeaning. A moment of silence passed between them.

"Uh, you do speak, right?" the rider frowned. "Or... is this just the whole big tough guy act we've seen a dozen times before?"

Farrans eyes narrowed at his last sentence, giving the rider his answer who sighed irritably.

"Right. Big tough silent guy it is. You do realise that acting tough and being brave aren't really the same thing right?"

Clearly this Viking had no intention of leaving him alone any time soon. Perhaps he would be better off speaking so that he would leave quicker.

"Why am I still alive?" Farran spoke at last. His voice felt rough and dry. Nothing a cup of water wouldn't fix. Not that he would ask for one, ask for charity from the enemy. Compared to the struggles that he had dealt with over the last few days this was a mere irritation. Nothing more. He could cope with it.

"Ah, well you can thank Heather for that." The rider smiled. "She managed to grab you out from the water before you could drown."

"And you approved of that?"

"Uh, kind of, yes?" His tone became nasally and obvious.

Farran grumbled. So interrogation it was.

"You may as well save the trouble and end me now. I won't talk."

"Funny. Sounds to me like you're talking right now."

Farrans patience was starting to run out. "Do I seem to be in a joking mood?" He spat out harshly. The night fury took note of the rising tension and growled in a threatening manner, warning him to keep watch of his words. Farran paid the beast a sparing glance but otherwise ignored it. "Know this rider. I will not betray my side as your spy has. Unlike her I know where my loyalties lie."

"Well if it helps, she was never really on your side in the first place. She was really only there to... well, not that it matters all that much. What matters now is that you're up. Ah, speaking of Heather, I suppose we can continue this conversation later. She'll want to speak to you before she heads back."

"What do you mean?"

"Well considering that you never really reached the hunters after your little undercovering mission, Heather is still in the clear. I have to admit that hearing it for me was quite the relief."

"And the reason she wants to speak to me is because...?"

"Honestly, I haven't a clue." he shrugged. "My guess is that she wants to make amends for... whatever happened out there. Seems you made quite the impression on her."

"Or she's too stubborn to quit."

"That too, yes. I'll just give you a minute to yourself."

The rider soon left the hunter on his own once again. His dragon followed, though not before looking back to glare at Farran.

He was not sure what to make of this rider. He clearly owned the night fury so it wouldn't be a stretch to consider him the leader. No actually, not a leader, nor a Viking. Not even a man. While his lack of muscle and size meant nothing to the hunter, his attitude was another matter entirely. Always sympathetic and sarcastic, making light of a serious situation. That was what he appeared as. A boy among men. A boy with a very dangerous body guard. And while Farran age wise wasn't far off behind, he at least understood the harsh lessons that life had taught him and had adapted into a being capable of surviving the known world. But he? That rider? A person of his stature would have much to prove in this cold unforgiving archipelago.

True to his word however, the spy did come minutes later. Her own dragon was nowhere in sight. Farran, like he had the previous rider was curious to hear what he had to say. Would she be angry? Happy to see him behind bars? The possibilities were endless. She carefully walked up to him but didn't speak. Farran noticed that she wore a guilty look and couldn't even face him. A new emotion he didn't know the traitor was capable of expressing. The silence was awkward and it seemed that she didn't know what to even say, so it was up to the hunter to begin what was most likely a short conversation.

"Why have you come?" He asked in the same tone he had used with the first rider. Cold and unforgiving.

Heather took a moment to relax and then reply. "I felt like it would have been cruel not to at least say goodbye before I head back to our... your dragon hunting organisation. Not to mention that the last time I saw you, you were in rough condition."

"It would have made no difference to me. Not now at least." He shrugged. "Why did you save me? I know it was you who did so."

"What, compared to leaving you for an army of vicious dragons? I get that acting tough is kind of your thing, but not even you would enjoy being ripped to pieces by a wild pack."

"Compared to you trying yourself?" He raised an eyebrow, remembering what happened back on the rowboat.

"I only did that because those wild dragons wouldn't have stopped until you were no longer a threat, which knocking you out proved. Of course you would remember that if you had been listening to me before I had no choice but to attack."

Another moment of silence passed.

"So." The hunter spoke up. "What happens now?"

"Well I'll be heading back to the dragon hunters. I've already spent too much time away from them as it is. As for you... well, I don't really know. I talked to Hiccup into keeping you here. I also filled him in on you..."

"Including personal moments of my life I trusted you into keeping?"

"Actually no. It wouldn't be right for me to do so. Only you have that right. Anyway as I was saying, he's agreed to keep you here for the time being. Though for how long I don't honestly have no idea."

The sound of her dragon could be heard outside.

"Right, I guess that's time to leave then." She headed towards the exit. Halfway there she stopped as though forgetting something and turned back to face him. "I'll be back when I can. Good luck Farran."

And that was the last he saw of Heather. For now should she be telling the truth. Once again he was all alone. Exactly what he wanted.

././././././././././././././././. ONE HOUR LATER

In the main foyer of the dragon base, the riders and their dragons had gathered together to discuss their newest guest. Most were against the idea of having a dragon hunter within a dragon rider base, with only a few backing the idea of keeping him. And only then it was after being convinced by Heather. Right now the debate seemed heated with only one rider managing to keep his cool.

"Uh, guys? I don't think when I set up this meeting I did so with the hopes of nearly going deaf. Can we all just calm down for a moment?"

Hiccups words went unheard as everyone continued to shout on top of each other. As usual, there was only one effective way to make them all listen.

"Toothless? If you'd be so kind?"

Gurgling in response, the night fury shot out a blast of plasma out the door. The sound was more than enough to catch everyone off guard and shut up right away.

"Right, so if I may be allowed to continue?" He began, only to be cut off by Astrid.

"Hiccup, you know that I'm always behind you and your ideas one hundred percent."

"Of course you are..." Hiccup smiled, trying his best not to roll his eyes.

"But this? This is just too dangerous!"

"Dangerous? Astrid, he's locked in a dragon pen. In what way is he dangerous?"

"Well if Heathers words are anything to go by, he's resourceful and unlike most hunters smart enough to get the drop on us if given the chance. Just like he did with her."

"Okay, well, that's a given. But it was also Heather who asked if we could keep him here. For now anyway."

"And the reason for that was, what? Remind me again Hiccup?"

"Uh... well... um, that is to say..."

"Exactly. All she did was fill us in on what this guy is like and then asked if we could keep him here."

"Well, obviously she did so for a reason. I mean come on, we both know Heather. She wouldn't ask us to do this unless she was sure about it."

"Oh please"! Snotlout butted into the conversation. "I'm with Astrid on this Hiccup! I mean if Heather really thought this lunatic was worth keeping around, then why didn't she tell the rest of us about him? Especially me! You know that Heather and I are like this close!" He raised his left hand and showed the tiny amount of space between his thumb and his index finger in order to emphasise his point.

"Gee, I don't know Snotlout. Maybe because you're terrible at keeping your mouth shut when you're asked to?"

"Shut up Astrid..."

"You guys, Hiccup does make a good point." Fishlegs chimed in. "Whatever the reason, I think we should trust Heather. Besides, I don't think this hunter is all THAT bad..."

"Didn't you say he tried to shoot Meatlug?" Snotlout reminded.

"I mean... Technically yes... but then again we did kind of get the drop on him. Maybe he just felt cornered?"

"Oh for Thors sake..."

Hiccup quickly decided to take the reins of the conversation once more. "Okay, so getting back on track, that's two for two on what we're doing. Ruff? Tuff? You two have been quiet for some time. Care to share what you're thinking?"

Indeed, the twins had been unusually quiet throughout the discussion. After a few decisions they decided to give their answer.

"Letting a dangerous, bloodthirsty, possibly unstable dragon hunter live here among us?" The pair smiled almost sadistically. "Do we even need to give our answer?"

"Guys, you can't be serious!" Astrid snapped. "For Thors sake Ruffnut, he nearly threw you off the side of a ship! He could have killed you!"

"Uh, Astrid? Tuffnut and I nearly kill each other on a daily basis."

"Mostly by accident." Tuffnut included.

"Right. So why would this be any different?"

Astrid struggled to offer a reply to this.

"I think we've made our point." Tuffnut smiled, crossing his arms in victory.

"Okay, now that that's done, lets get the dragons in their pens and call it a day. If anything does happen, I'm sure they'll take care of it."

"Okay Hiccup, fine. I'll go along with this, for Heather. But don't think that I'll be letting him off easy! The moment tomorrows light touches that stable I'll be questioning him for everything he knows about the hunters."

"I'd be surprised if you didn't m'lady."

With their discussion finished, the group did what had been recommended and locked the dragons in the stable with the hunter. By the time they reached the building and checked up on the hunter, he was asleep. Deciding to leave him until tomorrow morning, they quickly left and made the most of their night.

./././././././././././././.

Wow, this one was fun to write. I don't think I've been so descriptive in any other chapter compared to this one. It was actually much easier and entertaining than I expected. Guess I'll need to keep it that way if I want to keep hitting that 3000 word minimum count.

Also, as of very recently I've been seeing plenty of comments/reviews talking about how they hope that Farran won't defect to 'the good side'. I'm not going to spoil anything but I will say that I think that you will enjoy how this part of the story plays out :)