Gustav POV
I sighed. The excitement that I felt after setting out completely dulled after the first hour and a half of flying. Don't get me wrong I loved having a mission. Exploring uncharted territory and seeing new types of dragons was half the reason I wanted to be a dragon rider.
Half the reason.
My ideal mission was a mapping assignment with Astrid or, hell, even some sort of mission with Ruffnut. Astrid ideally though. It wasn't even because she was more beautiful than Ruff, it was because, the way I see it, Astrid is more likely to notice me without a twin brother to fight with.
The voice of my nagging mother came into my head 'You should find a younger girl to court' blah blah blah blah blah BLAH! It's not that I had a liking for older girls but with no one my own age and the closest, younger, girl in the tribe being an age of 10, older girls it was.
Maybe I'll get some new scars on this mission. One that will impress Astrid. The thought wasn't much to stave off the boredom on Fanghook's back but, here's hoping for minor injury.
The sun was starting to hang low in the sky when I saw it. From a distance it looked like one large island with several smaller island curving around the east coast of the big one. However, as I got closer my nose and my eyes affirmed what it really was.
"That smells horrible." I commented to Hookfang as we flew over the 'small islands' which were now revealed to be patches of trees in a swamp. Hookfang crooned in disagreement, stupid reptile probably liked the smell of rotting fish.
The swamp was fed with water by several waterfalls that fell off of the high plateau that made up almost all of the dry land here. The bog was also shrouded in mist, courtesy of some hot springs north of the waterfalls.
"Well bud, we are so not going in there. Hiccup's just going to have to be pleased with this." I stated as I sketched the outlines of the swamp and simply printed 'Bog' in the middle.
"Alright, what else is therrrrrr." I trailed off as we flew over the top of the plateau. It was a whole different world on top of the plateau. Most noticeably there were golden fields of wheat that were previously hidden by steep mounds of dirt near the cliffs. There was a large lake that supplied the waterfalls and even some fruit bearing trees growing amongst the wheat.
"Well there looks like a good place to camp." I stated and I tried to direct Hookfang to land. He stubbornly refused and looked back at me.
"What? Oh. OH! What am I saying, wait ... if there is wheat then that means ... PEOPLE live here! We can't rest now Fanghook, we have to find the settlement." I stated. He rolled his eyes at me and continued flying around the island.
We scoured the rest of the island looking around cliffs, inside caves, and on the treetops. There were a few Gronkles and maybe a Terrible Terror or two however, there was no sign of a settlement. I guided Fanghook back to the fields of wheat and we landed.
I stiffly got off the saddle and stretched. Fanghook also took this time to stretch his wings after the long flight here.
"Well it looks like whoever lived here left a long time ago and you know what that means? Free apples!" I stated to Fanghook as I decided that the best place to set up camp would be under one of the apple trees. I climbed the tree, with Fanghook's help, and picked a few apples. I fell back down and sat down against the tree, enjoying both it's shade and it's fruit. The rancid stench of the swamp below wafted by my nose.
"It's no wonder that this place was abandoned" I commented to Fanghook, plugging my nose "That stench could make Gobber turn green.". I bit into one of the apples, hoping that it would overwhelm the smell of the swamp. To my relief, it did and I spent several minutes resting and watching the wind make waves in the wheat.
Something caught my eye. A few stalks of wheat were defying the wind and bending against it. The closer I looked I could see different colors along with the gold of the wheat.
Suddenly, something rocketed up out of the wheat and headed strait for me. I tried to scramble to my feet and dodge it but if was coming in too fast. When it was a few feet out it suddenly stopped and I got to my feet.
"Good job Fanghook. Whew. That was close." I commended, observing the spear that Fanghook had caught in his mouth. It seemed he had bitten down on the spear too hard and it was now stuck in his teeth. The spear was decorated down the shaft and instead of a metal head it had several wooden needles dripping with some green liquid.
I looked back out at the field of wheat and saw a slender figure standing in the spot where the spear originated. He was tall and lanky with a painted wooden mask covering his face. His clothes were very basic but he did have a very well made sheath and matching sword around his hips.
"That was the worst throw I have ever seen!" I taunted "That wasn't even close to hitting me.". The figure remained silent and stood tall even as Fanghook roared at him. I went to my saddle bags so I had my axe close but I thought 'What would Hiccup do' and I didn't take it out.
"I can forgive one attempt on my life so why don't you drop your sword and we can talk ... I mean ... if you can speak ... or even understand me." I announced, feeling foolish as I had no idea if he even spoke my language.
He drew his sword and took up a fighting stance. I pulled out my axe from the saddle bags and took up position. Something felt off about this. Not only was this person thinking that they could face off against an obviously fearsome and skilled warrior such as myself but he was also facing off against the most lethal dragon in the known world.
Before I had more time to wonder about his mental state Fanghook yelped. I looked him over and saw that a chain had been tied around his tail and secured to the tree. Even more noteworthy were the five other people that had surrounded us.
I turned back around just in time to parry the spear throwers sword after he had charged across the field. I was barely able to parry the rest of his attacks. He was an expert sword fighter and was forcing me to walk backwards as we fought. I tripped on a root of the tree and my axe flew from my hands as I fell backwards.
"Ooooh you're just TERRIBLE at this. I can't believe you didn't mind your footing." he taunted, in a surprisingly high pitched voice, whilst pointing his sword at my chest.
"I don't know, you don't seem to know where you're standing either." I retorted, giving a nod to Fanghook. The spear thrower looked up in time to see Fanghook's open mouth descend on him. Fanghook picked up the spear thrower and threw him, several yards, back into the field of wheat. Fanghook then let loose a jet of flame across his left flank, forcing the people there to retreat.
I knew we couldn't fight them all off so I needed to get Fanghook's tail unstuck. I grabbed my axe and made my way over to Fanghook's head.
"Launch me back." I commanded as I crouched on his head. Fanghook bucked his head back and sent me flying towards his tail. I raised my axe over my head and smashed it down on the chain as I approached it. Nothing happened. The chain was too strong and my axe wasn't sharp enough to cut it.
Within seconds the other warriors converged on me. They were much less skilled than the first warrior so I was able to fight a few of them back. However, more of them converged on my location. I needed to find a way to cut the chain.
It didn't look like any of the links were weaker than the other ones. However, the chain was secured to a rather thin tree branch. After cutting through one of the warriors spears and kicking him back I made my way over to the tree branch and cut it with one swing.
With the chain loosened Fanghook's tail came free and he turned to let me onto the saddle. I ran forward to mount him but I was struck hard in the stomach and I toppled to the ground. Fanghook tried to get to me but the six warriors had gotten reinforcements and now numbered around twenty.
My right arm was twisted behind my back as I was pinned, face first, against the ground. The warriors began throwing spears at Fanghook and he breathed the last of his fire at them.
"Go! Fly Fanghook!" I shouted, my face against the ground. My dragon, reluctantly, took off and flew up until their spears could not reach him anymore. I tried struggling against my captor and I freed myself from their grasp for a moment but soon more warriors advanced on me and I was completely restrained.
"Clever, clever boy. Cutting the branch." I heard the voice of the original spear thrower. I was flipped over onto my back with my captors quickly switching pressure from my arms to pinning my shoulders.
"But it looks like we caught you anyways." h-she mocked with her mask removed.
AN: From this point on this story will be rated M.