The next hour went by with interesting results. The riders went about planning on what to do with what they saw as a 'beautiful' unique dragon, whether they should release it back into the ocean from whence it came from or if they should study it. After a series of dramatic and risky events they had decided to free the beast.
Farran, while having no interest or obligation to help out merely watched from the side lines, with the twins and a hideous zippleback watching over him just to be on the safe side. The last thing that the riders needed was him running off while they were distracted. Eventually the group started blasting open part of the closed off cove which would allow the enormous tidal class dragon to swim its way back to freedom. They finished the task and the sea shocker could be seen leaving from below the waves. As it did, the hunter merely scoffed. Something that didn't go unnoticed by the twins.
"What's your problem?" Tuffnut asked, unsure what the hunter was acting so grumpy for.
"Other than there being no point to me being here? I think I would have rather stayed in my cell." Having to watch a dragon be freed by his enemies while he sat back powerless to even attempt to stop them was far from a good feeling.
"Au contraire oh simple minded hunter, is it not better to be set free if even for a brief moment to stretch your wings? Like a great majestic eagle or the noble and elegant chicken?"
Farran wasn't sure whether to answer and give him praise. The idiot did actually have a point. Mostly. But on the other hand, being free for a short moment of time only to be locked back up again did not sound as rewarding as he made it out to be. After a moment Farran replied.
"Perhaps you should walk a mile in my shoes first before acting so confident, rider."
"Why? They don't exactly look all that comfortable to me. Oh! Unless they're padded with something soft inside! Something cosy and soft like feathers from a chicken..."
The riders moment of so called brilliance was shortly lived as Farran chose to block him out. Besides, a rider like him wouldn't understand. He wasn't the one being kept as a prisoner. Farran was just about to speak those words until everything suddenly erupted into chaos.
"SCAULDRONS!"
Upon hearing the warning, all three Viking heads turned to indeed see a small group of enormous scauldrons suddenly appear just outside the cove approaching fast. They looked very aggressive and upon noticing the sea shocker were surprisingly determined to rip it to shreds. Luckily for the manta-like dragon it was fast enough to give the intruders a good lengthy chase as the once peaceful cove had quickly become an arena of survival. All while the riders moved in quickly to try and defuse the situation. All of this had come together in a matter of seconds while Farran and the twins were left in the dark.
Every few moments one of the water dwelling beasts would emerge and try to attack the opposing side. At one point one got close enough to the edge near the hunter almost accidentally splashing him. As the situation got more and more out of hand it became apparent that the riders were struggling to stop the scauldrons.
Quickly, a thought came rushing to Farran. A risky one. Given the sudden interruption, now might actually be his chance to escape! Granted he had little idea on what he would do to keep himself free from the riders clutches but if he had a head start, it could be enough! All he needed to do to ensure that was to get rid of the bodyguards by his side. How was he to do that?
Other than the twins being completely thick, what else did he know about them? The female twin didn't wash her hair all that much, nothing helpful there. What about Loki day? Hiccup did mention that it was their favourite holiday. Maybe he could spin that to his advantage. Knowing that he had perhaps a short time to pull it off he quickly formulated a plan and put it to use right away. It wasn't like he had much else to lose to these riders.
"I've a question for you rider, if you would hear me out?"
Tuffnut shrugged. "Sure. Not like we've got anything better to do. You know, like watch this totally amazing scene play out before us!" He smiled, gesturing to the madness in front of them.
"This... Loki day you two are clearly so fond of, you've pranked each and every one of your fellow riders, have you not?"
"Well, all except Astrid. Man, that girl's impossible to get!"
'This is going to be easy' Farran thought with a small grin.
./././././././././././././././.
It was the dead of night when Heather finally arrived with Windshear on top of the lone seastack that Hiccup had messaged for her to meet at. On the outside she seemed calm and collected, but since reading Hiccups message her mind raced with all sorts of scenarios playing out one after the other of what the Hunter had done this time.
In the letter he had written, Hiccup mentioned that the reason for this meeting had to do with their new prisoner and it was an urgent matter. Something she couldn't exactly ignore. She was after all the reason Farran had become their prisoner to begin with, making him her responsibility in a matter of speaking. So the moment she wasn't constantly harassed by Ryker or Dagur, she jumped on Windshears back and made haste. The flight took a little over an hour before she reached where she was supposed to be, which was basically the middle of the sea with a large hunk of rock sticking out from it.
'Of course' She bitterly thought in her mind. 'Of course it would be something urgent about him of all people'. It was clear just how many times Farran had managed to irritate the spy on multiple occasions, sometimes without meaning to do so. Now even locked away in the hands of her friends he still somehow managed to cause that same effect on her.
As she waited for Hiccup, she shivered slightly. The night was far from warm. Her dragon noticed this and attempted to try and warm her up by setting a small section of ground on fire, but Heather refused. Although she was certain that they were alone she didn't want to risk the sudden light of any fire to give away her location to any late night patrol ships that could be this far out. Such a thing was not unlikely. Thankfully she did not have long to wait as Hiccup finally showed up, though Heather did not even see the two until they were about to land next to them. It was almost terrifying how well Toothless's body blended with the dark skies above, making him virtually invisible. Seeing this made it obvious why his kind were named NIGHT furies.
"Heather. Glad to see you're alright." Hiccup greeted with a smile as he dismounted Toothless, whom upon parting with his rider made his way over to the razorwhip. The two played around like two overgrown kittens throughout the conversation of their riders.
"Yeah, you too." She nodded before getting straight to the point. "What's going on? Your letter mentioned that something had happened back at the edge involving Farran?"
"Yes, there was." Hiccup sighed.
"He didn't try to hurt anyone did he?"
"No, everyone's fine. Well, maybe apart from Astrids pride but physically, we're all fine."
"So what's the problem?"
"Heather, Farran is gone."
Heather remained confused, unsure exactly what Hiccup meant. Surely he wasn't referring to Farran being 'dead' gone, was he?
"Gone? You mean as in..."
"Escaped, yeah. Earlier today." Hiccup sighed in an irritated manner. "That's the last time I'm leaving the twins in charge of guarding prisoners. Look Heather, that isn't the only reason why I asked for you to come here. You and I both know where he's heading. It's only a matter of time before the hunters figure out your true colours."
For a brief second Heather felt relieved that the hunter was still kicking. She wished Hiccup had just said that in the first place but that didn't exactly matter right now. Another quick thought quickly entered her mind.
"I'm assuming that he's not heading to the hunters directly? Otherwise you would have caught him by now, right?"
"Right. We covered as much of the ocean between us and all the known hunter bases in the area. Even with a few hours head start there's no way he would have reached them. But considering that he's not your average hunter he probably knew that and headed to the closest settlement from here."
"That would be the Northern markets, wouldn't it?"
"It is. I've already sent Astrid and Fishlegs to check. If he's there, they'll find him."
"I suppose it would make sense why he'd go there. Plenty of hunters buy whatever they can get their hands on from there, meaning that all Farran has to do is lay low for a few days and he'll be back in the grasp of the hunters again."
"Precisely." Hiccup nodded before making his next sentences surprisingly blunt. "Anyway back to what I was saying before you purposely changed the subject, we need to pull you out now. While we still can."
Hiccup was right. Heather had tried to dodge the obvious and inevitable subject of getting found out. Even with the huge risk of being found out, she still had a few days before it happened. Six tops of she was lucky. That was more than enough time to leak as much information about the hunters as she could to Hiccup and the others.
"No. Not yet Hiccup. There's still time. Besides, there's still the matter of finding out about the true leader of the dragon hunters. That's not something we can afford to give up. Not when I'm close to making a breakthrough."
Hiccup tried to repress the oncoming sigh. Having to deal with Astrids strong-headed attitude was hard enough. Now he had to start worrying about Heather. Oh how the gods hated him sometimes.
"Heather, it's not worth losing-"
"I'll be fine Hiccup! I have Windshear remember? If things are really that bad, she will get me out. Besides, can't you just try sinking any ships that arrive at the Northern markets? Buy as much time as you can?"
Hiccup shook his head.
"No. That'll just make Ryker suspicious and he'll come looking for answers. Probably along with enough ships to take us all down. We might get away with it the first time but more than that? We can't risk it."
Now it was Heathers turn to sigh. Still, despite all the bad news there was still one very big, very important question that still needed to be addressed.
"How did he even escape?"
Hiccup groaned.
"It's a bit of a long, and personally annoying story. But you don't mind me reliving it all again I'm sure, do you?" He smiled, getting Heather to lighten up even if only a little. The old, Hiccup charm never fails. "It started when we discovered a Sea Shocker living in one of the nearby coves..."
././././././././././././././././././././././.
Farran managed to pull himself out of the old rowing boat he had used to get from the Edge to where he was now. After hours of constant rowing, his muscles ached and begged for respite. It was dark, cold and damp. The hunters boots carried a good amount of salty sea water and his sea-soaked clothes made it harder to support his usually straightened posture. For a second his mind blanked and he allowed himself to fall onto his back and almost sank into the soft sand as he realised that he had done it. He had escaped the grasp of the riders. For now at least. Still, he allowed himself to rest for a couple of minutes and gather whatever strength he could while the chance presented itself. He had earned it.
He knew that the clock was ticking. Under normal circumstances he was sure that the riders wouldn't care so much about a single hunter escaping. But considering what he knew, the information that he had stumbled across concerning Heather would make him not only a priority target, but perhaps the biggest threat to them as of this moment. The idea of that alone both impressed and worried him. Until he could find a way back to the hunters his journey had only just begun. Not to mention that the riders were probably already on their way to inform Heather of his escape. This added another challenge to his already difficult mission. He needed to reach the nearest hunter base and get the message across to Ryker of Heathers actual motives.
"At least either way, her days as a spy are numbered." Farran reasoned to himself as he carefully flexed his fingers.
He needed to plan out his next move. Farran had been lucky to have managed to reach the beaches of the Northern Markets but considering how late it was into the night it was highly unlikely that anywhere would be open. While the hunter didn't have any money on him he could probably trade something for the boat he had spent half the day on. He needed food, water and something to defend himself with. Didn't sound too hard. Maybe if the gods were listening they would guide him to a river to drink from and eliminate one of the essentials. But for now, all he could do is relax and plan out the best course of action in the highly likely case that he would run into less than friendly hostiles. With whatever strength he had remaining, he dragged the small wooden boat onto the beach and pulled it into the nearest cluster of trees, disguising it with whatever brambles and twigs that he could spot in the darkness. Once that was done he did his best to erase the drag marks in the sand and any footprints he had made. If the riders were to fly over while he was sleeping then the least he could do was make it a little harder for them to find him.
././././././././././././././././././.
And thus, another chapter is finished! I'm sure a couple of you may be a bit disappointed that I didn't actually write the escape sequence, but don't worry. Time will reveal all. Right now, the story needs to progress a little bit. Also, I've noticed that plenty of people have been asking for longer chapters for a bit of time now so next chapter I'll try and see if I can expand my 3000 word mark. No promises but I'll do my best ;)