For Farran, the next hour passed by at an excruciatingly slow rate. Being forced to aid the riders in their little 'clean up' operation was insulting. Mocking even. Every piece of equipment he picked up, ruined or not was carelessly thrown into a messy pile behind him. The attitude he irradiated seemed to be similar to a spoiled child when asked to clean their room. Hiccup had noticed it and even the hunter himself was aware. However just because he had no choice but to endure the task did not mean to say that he had to do it perfectly. And if these actions were enough to irritate the rider then all the more reason to continue.
Since the two humans had first stepped onto the beach, neither had said a word to each other. Something that Farran was more than happy with. He did not need to deal with the riders attitude this early in the morning, or rather more so than he already had. Hiccup on the other hand, being the more friendlier of the two thought maybe it was best to strike up some conversation in order to have the time fly by quicker. Gods only knew how much longer they would be here for.
"You know, now that I think about it I never got your name. Fren, was it?" He started off.
The hunter was but fifteen feet from him, facing away so there was no reason he shouldn't have heard him speak. Yet he acted as though he had heard nothing and continued with his work.
"Oh great, more silence. That's... that's welcoming." He spoke sarcastically as he grabbed a handful of dragon root arrows and carefully placed them onto a pile of objects mostly made of wood. "Guess you're just not one for conversation then?"
Again, nothing. The hunter merely carried on. Hiccup continued, talking more to himself this time around.
"Apparently not. Well I suppose if I was the one trapped on an island with a bunch of Vikings I didn't like I'd be hesitant to speak too."
Farran sighed. He was beginning to consider this rider more annoying compared to the one he had taken prisoner a few days ago. The one thing they seemed to have in common was that neither of them could learn to shut up. Unfortunately it was most likely going to be a habit that he would have to deal with for some time too. All the more reason for him to find a way off of this Thor-forsaken place!
"Can I ask you something?" The hunter decided to speak up out of the blue, having enough of Hiccups constant blathering. If he was going to deal with it, he was tempted to at least try to get a few questions answered, more for his own personal sake than for the dragon hunters since he knew that the rider was too smart to give away any sensitive answers.
"Oh? Sure, of course. What's on your mind?"
"The dragon eye."
He didn't even need to look in the riders direction to sense the cheerful riders face sag slightly.
"Okay. What about it?"
"It belonged to the hunters, did it not? Forged and created by them centuries ago?" Farran did not know all the details about the earliest points of the hunters history, including how the eye was constructed, but he was at least aware that it was theirs, not the riders. So how exactly had they gotten their grubby hands on such an important device?
"Supposedly so. Why?"
"How did you get it?"
Being so blunt with his question, Farran realised that the rider would probably hold off on an answer. However after a few moments he decided to give just as blunt an answer.
"We took it. From an abandoned ship. Can't have been as important as they thought it was if they left it there unguarded."
"And yet you took it anyway."
Hiccup blinked, not entirely sure what the hunter was getting at. "We did. Your point being?"
"So as well as protecting such dangerous monsters, you also admit to being thieves?"
"Thieves?" Hiccup asked sounding surprised. "We're not thieves."
"Then you would return the dragon eye back to its rightful owners right now if I asked you to?"
Hiccup didn't answer.
"That's what I thought. What I expected from men like you."
"Men like me?"
"It doesn't matter. What does matter is you admitting your flaws, and that is enough for me."
Farran moved on to another area, further away from Hiccup. Hopefully his words would be enough to keep the rider from speaking another word. Turned out they did not as the rider caught up to the hunter and tried to continue the conversation. Probably determined to prove him wrong.
"I think you're wrong. About me and my friends being thieves." He spoke with conviction.
"Oh? And how do you suppose that?"
Hiccup gave a bit of thought behind his answer before deciding to give it.
"Just because someone created something, it doesn't mean that it SHOULD belong to them. Not if they use it for an evil purpose. Think about it this way, the dragon eye was created by the hunters yes, but they use it to enslave and kill dragons. Why should such an incredible device be used for nothing more than death and destruction when it also has the purpose to explore and discover in the name of peace? Something that we, the dragon riders use it for. That's why we hold onto the eye."
"And you believe that this reason alone is enough to justify your actions? From what I hear all this boils down to nothing more than a child refusing to give up the toy of another child. Selfish and pointless."
"Selfish? So you're telling me that it is selfish to save as many dragons as we can from the grips of your hunters?"
Farrans jaw tightened. He quickly felt the need to punch the rider in that smug face of his. Just the mere mention alone of saving dragons was more than enough for him to want to strangle the fool. Maybe he would have had he not composed himself quickly.
"No, I don't." Farran admitted as he turned around to at last face the rider. If he was going to use his words to get his point across then he was at least going to make sure that the rider was listening. As he talked, he walked closer to Hiccup. "It's more than that. It's spitting in the face of all viking-kind, helping the very creatures we have been forced to fight for generations! It's allowing more of those savage monsters to spill more blood with every one you set free! You come here, attack us hunters and decide to proclaim your own sick sense of justice, so don't think you have the right to make us the bad guys."
By the time he had finished, he was right up to the rider, face to face, who in response to the hunters aggression hadn't even taken a step back and seemed able to hold his ground instead of shrinking back. Farran raised his finger to the riders chest.
"Especially since you care more for those monsters than you do. Your own. Kind."
With each of those last four words he poked the rider in the chest to emphasise his point. The last one with enough force to make him stagger back slightly. Enough to trigger the demon still waiting by the tree line. The beast roared angrily and both humans looked to see the inside of its mouth start to glow blue, and even from a distance its normally large bulbous pupils had become nothing more than narrow slits.
"Whoa whoa whoa! Toothless stand down!" Hiccup called out quickly, waving his hands in order to call off his dragon. Farran on the other hand was almost about to dive for the nearest weapon until he noticed that the beast almost right away calmed down at its masters command. Knowing all too well what could have happened, he eventually continued to talk.
"See what I mean? Damned killers the lot of them."
"Oh gods, its like dealing with a much younger Mildew." The rider breathed though his teeth silently before turning on the hunter. "Really? You're going to blame him over being defensive?"
"Considering that it nearly roasted me alive? Over poking you? I think I blame myself more for not expecting it."
Hiccup sighed. Today was not going as well as he had planned. Right now he wasn't sure who he was more annoyed at, his overprotective dragon or the hunter who kept stoking the fire.
"Okay look, Fren-"
"Farran. It's Farran, not Fren."
"Right. Farran, clearly you and I need to talk about your beliefs at some point in the very near future. For now, maybe we could just get back to work please?"
The hunter huffed with a frown. "As long as you don't try to start up any more conversations, fine."
Hiccup indeed kept quiet for the rest of the time spent cleaning the beach, or rather as much as they could of it. By now about a quarter of it had been stripped of anything hunter related. Of course this was only after countless hours over the course of three days. While they had reached a good milestone, they were far from done. But for now, it was enough for Hiccup to consider it a good days work. If only the other riders weren't as busy with their own chores rebuilding, fixing up or replacing parts and armaments of the edge which had either taken damage or had been used up then perhaps they could have been done by now. Not that it mattered in the end since everything would be done regardless of how they went about it.
For now, the two humans and of course the dragon decided it would be best to head back while they still could. Darkness was starting to creep and the sun would soon vanish. Since the hunter would most certainly refuse a ride back to the base, Hiccup decided that it would be simpler to walk back through the forest while they still had enough light, much to the displeasure of the night fury.
By the time they reached the Edge, Farran wordlessly stepped back into his prison cell for the night. All the other dragons had already been locked up and were more content trying to sleep than notice the newest arrivals. Before Hiccup left him for the night, he decided to offer some helpful words of advise regarding tomorrow.
"By the way I feel that I should warn you, you may want to watch out for the twins tomorrow. It'll be their favourite day of the year tomorrow, Loki day and considering that you're new here they'll most likely try to pull something on you."
With that, the rider left, allowing Farran to wonder what tomorrow would bring...
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Hey guys, sorry for the short chapter. Had a few problems trying to reach the 3000 word mark this time round so hopefully next chapter I'll have plenty to work on. Until then, see you guys later.